Shipping industry needs support

The Panama Maritime XI Conference & Exhibition will take place from February 27 to March 1 at the Megapolis Convention Center, above the Hard Rock Café in Panama City, and it is expected that around 130 exhibitors will come to this event to show the latest technologies in the industry.
One of the 36 conferences will be exclusively dedicated to discuss the impact that the expanded Panama Canal will have on the industry with regards to cargo movement and the best way to modernize the failing logistics infrastructure of the country.
“Panama has the potential to become one of the shipping superpowers. However, to achieve this, the government must support the maritime industry that until now has grown by itself,” said the Panama Maritime XI Conference & Exhibition organization committee president, Tomás Ávila.
“There is no doubt that the widening of the Canal will have strong impact, not only on our economy, but around the world. Bigger ships using the waterway will mean cheaper products for consumers, but we need to attract new users and this will be difficult if we do not modernize the ports and the railway system,” added Ávila.
“The government has a great decision to make, to update the infrastructure now or do it at a later date.” The main problem, according to Avila, is that the industry is cyclical and is now down, but maybe in a couple of years it will be up again. If we do not modernize by then we could have a great delay.
“Our vision is to transform Panama into the fourth logistic hub in the world, but to do that we need to think outside the box and not only focus on the Canal, but also on the Panamanian and other ports of the region. “For that reason we have invited, among others, the administrators of the ports of Cartagena, Porto Do Brazil and Long Beach,” said Ávila.
The Maritime Conference organization committee has also invited all Panama’s presidential pre-candidates to explain the importance of the infrastructure modernization and the best way to support the shipping industry of Panama.
This event takes place every two years and it is this location where the industry players get together to exchange ideas. One of the speakers this time is the International Maritime Organization General Secretary, Koji Sekimizu, who is going to talk about the “Sustainable Development: IMO contribution beyond Rio+20”.
This year, apart from the conferences the companies established in Panama will be able to offer services and products to allow commercial exchange to take place.
Source: The Bulletin