Logistically Speaking...what's a shipper to do about the Panama Canal?

Featuring:

• Host Scott Case, Position : Global
• Host Cameron Roberts, Roberts & Kehagiaras
• Guest Deputy Administrator Ilya Espino de Marotta, Panama Canal Authority

___________

If you're in the maritime or logistics business, of course you know about the Panama Canal.

The evolution of global maritime activities, both commercial and military meant that when the Canal first opened in 1914, containerized shipping wouldn't follow for another 50 or so years when Malcolm McLean came up with the idea. The original locks are 110 feet wide and when the canal opened, saw 1000 ships traverse the passage.

As ships grew larger, transporting goods in containers as well as oil and liquified natural gas, the need for a wider passage was required. The maximum number of containers for a ship utilizing the two original locks is approximately five thousand twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEU's

The Canal Authority began work on the third set of locks in September, 2007 and began commercial operations in June, 2016. The so-called Neopanamax class of ships were 1,400 feet in length, 180 feet wide and a draft of 60 feet. 

Even though the newest ship builds today exceed 20,000 TEUs, or twenty-foot equivalent units, the Canal can accommodate ships up to 14,000 TEU's, plenty for vessels operating between Asia and Europe and the US East and West coasts and South America.

Which brings us to the topic of today's conversation - according to Wikipedia, it takes an average of fifty-two million gallons of fresh water for the single passage of a ship.

Panama has been experiencing a drought compounded by the current El Nino weather pattern and Gatun Lake, the freshwater lake 85 feet above sea level which feeds the Canals, has forced the Canal Authority to reduce the number of transits.