GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Panama Canal Authority CEO Jorge Quijano visited the campus of the University of Florida on Thursday where he highlighted the opportunities that will come to Florida with the completion of its expansion.
With less than two years away from the completion of the project, ports in Florida are on a race against the clock to make sure they’re ready or risk losing out on major business and jobs.
“Once the expanded canal is operational it’s going to be seeing much larger vessels coming in to the area. Not just Jacksonville but Jacksonville of course is one important port in Florida, also Miami,” said Quijano.
Quijano spoke at the Latin American Studies 63rd Annual Conference at UF, his first public speech in Florida in more than a year.
“The East Coast is of course the most important part. From a business standpoint, our best customer,” said Quijano.
State lawmakers are working to secure funding to begin dredging Florida ports and Jaxport is vying for that cash.
The president of the transportation advocacy group, Florida for Better Transportation Matthew Ubben, said the river city is an good position to benefit tremendously.
“Jacksonville is looking right now to finish a chief’s report that will take the dredging to about 48 feet so they will definitely be ready once we go post Panamax. That probably is going to be about two-three years from now,” said Ubben.
The good news for Jacksonville: the expansion has run into a few roadblocks regarding contract disputes that has pushed back the completion date. The delays buys time for many ports trying to catch up, at least for now.
It’s expected to be completed by December 2015.