The Port of Palm Beach and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) have extended the term of their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by five additional years.

Fostering growth and capitalizing on the Panama Canal’s expansion, the alliance between the parties was initially created in order to promote joint marketing initiatives, boost the exchange of information and insights, and drive business development.

During the Board of Commissioners meeting held at the Port on March 15, 2017, the amendment to the MOU was signed by both Manuel Almira, Executive Director of the Port of Palm Beach, and Blair J. Ciklin, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners for the Port of Palm Beach.

On behalf of the ACP, the amendment had been signed on March 2, 2017, by Panama Canal Administrator Jorge L. Quijano.

Manuel Almira, Executive Director of the Port of Palm Beach, said: “Through our partnership with the Panama Canal Authority, we have continued cooperation to share commercial intelligence,” said . “We are very pleased to extend this alliance, especially now that the Panama Canal is experiencing considerable growth, setting new daily tonnage records in February for the third consecutive month.”

The original MOU was executed in an official ceremony held at the ACP’s headquarters in Panama City, Panama, on December 9, 2009.

The Panama Canal Authority recently announced that it had welcomed its 1,000th Neopanamax vessel through the waterway, less than nine months after the historic inauguration of the Expanded Canal, with the arrival of Mediterranean Shipping Company’s MSC Anzu containership.

Palm Beach was in the news recently after it had to cancel plans to sign cooperation pacts with Cuba after Florida’s Governor Rick Scott threatened to cancel their funding through Twitter.