Maritime Sector Outlook

Panama presents a formidable complex of multimodal cargo movement options to world trade.

The effect of MIT, CCT and PPC is already being felt in the Caribbean and on the east coasts of South and Central America and as far north as the US and Canadian east coasts. A direct challenge to the Panama Canal for many years has been the U.S. mini landbridge - the rail connection between both coasts of the US. However, as the demand for cargo movement over this link has grown during the past decades, delivery time has often slowed down considerably because of congestion.

This was starkly demonstrated during the shut-out of US longshoremen by port operators in the last part of 2002, which resulted in massive cargo backlogs. Ship re-routing and transshipment through Panama's ports during and after this event will be reflected in the 2002 overall handling figures.

Despite a worldwide slump in cargo rates, a cyclical event, and the slowdown in the world economy during 2002, Panama's modernized cargo handling complex is expected to serve both as a "pressure valve" for the US mini-landbridge system as well as creating its own growing network of worldwide links.

In the first quarter of 2002, the overall growth of container movement in Panama's hub ports grew by 5.7 percent, and indications are that this trend will continue throughout the year and into 2003.