After dealing with a historic drought for over a year, authorities for the Panama Canal are considering ways to prevent a repeat and say they need to be more customer-oriented.
Ricaurte Vasquez, administrator of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) hosted a roundtable discussion Monday with the media and stakeholders to mark the 110th anniversary of the waterway and examine its future, as well as challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
The Panama Canal currently connects 180 maritime routes that reach 1,920 ports in 170 countries around the world, through which nearly 3% of global maritime trade passes, according to the ACP.
“The Panama Canal has been resilient. Some of the issues that we have to address are not under our control, climate being the most important. We have addressed that with a lot of creativity, and the creativity was taken to its limit during this dry season,” Vasquez said during the roundtable.
Key trade routes connected by the Panama Canal include trips between the U.S. East Coast and Asia and between Europe and South America. The canal employs 8,549 people.
“We have to move away from the concept that was prevailing in the market for many years, that the canal dictated prices, policies and structures and procedures,” Vasquez said. “We have been very careful in addressing issues, bringing products and showing different alternatives. I think it is clear proof that we are here to listen. It has to be a win-win situation. We have to be a successful, profitable entity.”
Source: Freight waves
