Logistics Panama: Change to Survive


News from Panama / Monday, October 24th, 2016

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With a “roadmap” proposed for the next four years, the sector aims to improve conditions in the country as a logistics hub and compete better with other Latin American ports.

With the help of the CAF Development Bank, the sector of Panamanian logistics companies aims to develop a plan to improve the supply of services in the country and compete better with other logistics development poles that have improved their position in Latin America. One example is Colombia and its Cartagena and Buenaventura port terminals, explained Susana Pinilla, from the CAF.   ““…  The boats when docked in those ports do transshipment, which has access to value-added processes; or they serve the need for supplies. There is a robust supply of bunker, among other conditions referenced in catalogs on global logistics services. “

The program developed for Panama “… takes place in four simultaneous chapters and is executed through eight priority actions. The aim is to turn Panama into a kind of U, with two logistics vertices and the Pan American Highway as a line linking them.  The scheme leverages the cluster of services that have already been consolidated around the banks of the Canal, plus the assets of ports, airports, railway and free zones, and plans for the possibility of a dry route from the city of David, Chiriquí, to the district Changuinola, Bocas del Toro. 

In addition, “… it highlights the potential for the Charco Azul terminal in the chiricano village in Puerto Armuelles. The area has a geological fault in its favor: at only 10 meters from the sea it has a depth of 100 meters. Then 20 meters after that it descends to about 200 meters, and later reaches a thousand meters. “That for a port is glorious because it does not have to be dredged, which is the most complex and expensive part of the construction works for building [a dock].” “