SRM has published a new study entitled “The economic effects of the expansion of the Panama Canal on maritime trade” realized on the occasion of the inauguration of the new Panama Canal, scheduled for tomorrow, 26th June 2016.
The work is part of a wider research project launched by the Study Center in January 2014 called “Observatory on Maritime Transport and Logistics” and wants to contribute to the analysis and to the knowledge of this great work and of the economic impacts that this will have on the trade and on global maritime routes, especially those directed and originating in the Mediterranean, as well as the investment of ports thereto connected.
The research also offers a perspective view of the new scenarios connected to the fact that the new Canal can accommodate larger ships and new types of vessels including those transporting LNG (liquefied natural gas) and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas).
The expansion of the Canal will help broaden the strategic dimension of Panama allowing it to become an international maritime hub, especially for the American Continent and the USA. Many are in fact the expansion projects of the terminal and the consolidation of the works that are under way in the U.S. ports to make them even more competitive to accommodate vessels of larger size coming from Panama.
The work is enriched by a survey in the field, which researchers from SRM carried out in Panama where they had the opportunity to deepen the analysis and statistics with the voice of direct players, such as the Canal’s Authority, the Maritime Chamber, the major trade associations, large terminal companies.
To complete the analysis it has been provided a comparison with the Suez Canal on some world routes involving the Americas, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, since these two Canals are proposing a massive competition in the quality of logistics (on times and costs) and also in the pricing policy for the transit fee.
Download the abstract
