The Panama Canal expansion is driving huge infrastructure projects across the Americas, led by a US$2 billion investment at the port of Miami. Ports in North and South America, and in the Caribbean, are scrambling to have their channels and berths deepened enough to accommodate larger vessels carrying more containers from Asia after the expanded canal opens in 2015.
As the closest US port to the Panama Canal, Miami is confident that it will benefit from increased trade as larger vessels start using the wider all-water route.
"The north-south trade will continue - it currently makes up 54 percent of our business - but we have a great opportunity to bring in the Asia trade and the bigger ships are already coming," said Eric Olafson, intergovernmental affairs and cargo development manager at the port of Miami.
Unable to traverse the Panama Canal with vessels of over 5,000 TEUs, several shipping lines have Asia-US East Coast services travelling via the Suez Canal, using ships of 8,000 TEUs and up.
"We will be one of three ports on the East Coast able to accept post-Panamax ships and by 2015 we will be capable of handling a 12,000 TEU vessel. We think the maths works and retailers are confident in us," said Olafson.
In the northern Colombian port of Barranquilla in the Caribbean, just 300 nautical miles from Panama, the canal expansion is pushing investment.
"We have been forced to invest in infrastructure to improve port efficient and storage capacity," said Enrique Caravajales, commercial manager at Barranquilla.
The Brazilian port of Suape, 40 km south of the northern Brazilian city of Recife, will bring a second terminal online before the end of the year that will boost its container handling capacity.
"We are the port with the best infrastructure in Brazil, and we are so confident of increasing our trade once the canal is widened that we are launching our second container terminal later this year, which will double our container capacity," said Caio Ramos, vice-president of Suape Port and Industrial Complex.
The port of Santos near Sao Paulo handles most of the Asia lines calling at Brazil that are routed via South Africa. Once the Panama expands, Ramos believes Suape will be high on the port of call list of Asian lines.
"The lack of good infrastructure in South America is one of the bottlenecks for growth, but at Suape we have invested a lot in dredging. We have a depth of 15m in the inner port and 18m in the outer channel. We have spent $1.5 billion in improving road access and 45 km of brand new roads now connect the port with the federal highway network," he said.
Even Jamaica has an eye on the predicted increase in trade with China working on developing a container port near Kingston. Other ports in the Caribbean are improving their transshipment and feeder capabilities.
Luis Eleta, in charge of strategic planning at Panama's Tocumen International Airport, said the expanded Panama Canal would bring "tremendous opportunities" for South America.
"It will bring the east coast closer to the west coast," he said. "This type of project makes the world smaller and it will become an important development in the Latin American markets."
However, Olafson said it was "not all about the Panama Canal".
"It will be a great way to bring in more Asian cargo to the port of Miami, but remember that 54 percent of our business is with South America and we don't expect that to shrink," he said.
"We are bullish on the canal and believe a lot of Asian cargo will come in to the port and be dropped off to be fed to ports in the north as well as shipped to South America.
"There is plenty of opportunity to spread around and the Panama Canal is just one aspect of growing trade."
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