LARGEST Colon port on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal is now Latin America’s largest in container traffic. Here the port of Cristobal, part of the Colon port complex. (Photo: Panama Ports Company)

The Panama Canal is still several years away from completion and with that, a huge increase in traffic is expected.  This just in from Joachim Bamrud at The Latin Business Chronicle about how our Ports are experiencing significant growth today.

The port of Colon in Panama has replaced Santos in Brazil as Latin America’s top container port, according to the sixth annual ranking of Latin America’s Top 50 Ports fromLatin Business Chronicle based on data from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Thanks to a 27.1 percent increase in container traffic last year, Colon managed to go from second to first place on the ranking. The port of Balboa in Panama also inched up on the ranking to second place, leading Santos to drop to third place.

Balboa posted a 37.1 percent increase in container traffic last year, the second-highest growth rate among the top 50 ports.

Santos performed well, but with a lower growth rate than Colon and Balboa: 20.4 percent.