Panama Canal Officials say the third lane in the canal will bring enough traffic to the East Coast to boost 3 ports, not the 13 that are racing to invest in infrastructure.
The Panama Canal, undertaking a $5.25-billion expansion, expects three bigger US ports will handle a surge in trade as the waterway makes room for larger ships, said Alberto Aleman, the canal’s chief executive officer.
Two deeper, wider ports along the US Eastern seaboard and one in the Gulf coast should be enough to handle the growth in traffic, instead of the approximately 13 port expansions now underway, Aleman said in an interview in Panama City.
“The East Coast has many ports, and the large container ships are not going to stop at every port,” Aleman said.