Latin American ports prepare for Panama Canal expansion

Colombia’s Regional Port Authority Port of Cartagena (SPRC) commercial director Giovanni Benedetti said that it will invest $400m over the next three years to double the handling capacity of the port, currently 22.5m teu .

"We have been investing in this reality since the announcement of the expansion project...we are convinced that Cartagena will be much more favoured with Asian routes passing from the Colombian Pacific to the Atlantic, because these large ships are searching the east coast of United States, " said Benedetti.

 He said that the port of Cartagena has a master development plan linked to the technical characteristics of the Canal expansion, allowing them to receive post-panamax vessels of 14,000 TEUs, and within eight years managing about 100m tonnes of cargo, more than double the current 40m tonnes the Caribbean port handles. 


Carlos Urriola, Seattle-based Carrix Senior vice-president , the company that administrates Panama’s Atlantic port of Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT) said the company will invest $270m this year to receive post-panamax vessels. “The ports [in Latin America] have to be prepared and the whole logistics industry has to be ready otherwise they will not receive benefits,” he said.