Benefits to a Panama Canal delay?

Some are speculating that Jaxport in Jacksonville will benefit from any delay in works to catch up with the infrastructure upgrade and dredging needed to accommodate post-Panamax vessels traversing the canal.

Nancy Rubin, spokesperson at Jaxport, told Port Strategy: “We are as always focused on delivering a 47-foot channel in the most expeditious manner possible in order remain competitive in all of the international container cargo trade lanes we serve.”

She was keen to stress that Jaxport is not only focused on generating extra traffic from the Panama Canal. It also serves the larger ships that come through the Suez Canal which are too large to pass through the current Panama Canal locks so it doesn’t have all of its eggs in one basket.

Despite this, some say that Jaxport has got some way to go to catch up with other east coast ports including Savannah when it comes to servicing post-Panamax vessels.

The row over who should pay for the new locks at the Panama Canal expansion project has been rattling on for over a month. Two weeks of negotiations between Grupos Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has seen productivity levels drop to 25%.

But GUPC has agreed to restart works on the third set of locks this week. As soon as works are resumed, ACP will pay GUPC US$36.8m for outstanding December 2013 invoices to ensure that GUPC pending payments and obligations to suppliers are cancelled.

But the threat of delay to the project has not yet blown over. Both parties have agreed to continue discussions such as dates for the delivery, an implementation schedule for the remainder of the works, a timetable of repayment moratorium and other key aspects for the project’s development, where they have still not reached an agreement.