Panama Canal meets Alabama: Executives plan to increase shipping from Asia to the East Coast, bypassing West Coast ports.
Panama Canal and Alabama port executives have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly help foster commercial activity between the two entities … and help boost trade along the increasingly important “All-Water Route,” the route from Asia to the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts via the Panama Canal.
As the Panama Canal undergoes its historic expansion, which will double the waterway’s capacity and allow more traffic and the passage of longer and wider ships, the ASPA embarked on port improvements to capture the anticipated traffic growth. So far, ASPA has completed a $300 million (USD) container terminal in partnership with APM Terminals North America, a subsidiary of Maersk, and CMA CGM. Work began last year on a new turning basin in the lower harbor that will allow vessels, in excess of 900 feet in length, to access the Port’s deeper draft terminals. The Port is also constructing an intermodal rail facility to capitalize on the Port’s five Class I railroads and to expand the Port’s transportation reach into mid-west and southeast U.S. markets.