Central America Transports Road Freight at 15Kph


News from Panama / Wednesday, September 28th, 2016

truck-traffic

A rise of up to 25% in the value of the cargo, and possible total loss is the result of the slowness with which goods are transported through the region.

“Four times slower than the world average” is the speed at which the terrestrial cargo moves through Central American countries according to Jaime Granados, from the Inter – American Development Bank (IDB).

In a forum of the College of Economists of Panama, Granados explained that “… The rate of passage of cargo and transport units throughout the Pacific corridor (of Central America) is extremely slow, around 15 or 16 kilometers per hour whereas it should be 60 or 70 kilometers per hour,  said Granados to Acan EFE.

Elnuevodiario.com.ni reports that “…The violence plaguing the region forces trucks to not travel at night and leave cargo standing for hours at a time. ‘Even during the day, carriers are afraid to get out of their trucks to go to carry out customs procedures in the offices at border posts, which means they have to hire someone to do it for them so as not to abandon their cargo, which inevitably increases costs’ added the expert.”