Welcome to the Panama Weekly News Roundup! Here’s the latest.
Panama Canal ousts Suez as top Asia-US East Coast route
In just a few weeks after its inaugural first crossing, the Panama Canal has now surpassed the Suez Canal as the top Asia-US East Coast route for shipping. This is big news for Panama, who is looking to increase trade revenue via the Panama Canal, and make the waterway the #1 trans-ocean shipping solution on the planet.
The Central American waterway has a 57 percent share of total volume on the trade compared with 48 percent at the beginning of the year, and is set to boost its share further in the coming months as some carriers have yet to introduce larger vessels, according to Alphaliner.
The overall all-water weekly capacity currently stands at 145,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units, up 1.7 percent from a year ago, the industry analyst said. It is unclear what has driven this shift since the transit time for a direct voyage from Hong Kong to New York is the same through both the Suez and Panama, although actual times depend on port coverage and intermediate stops. Panama has an advantage for origin points north of Hong Kong.
Source: JOC
Copa Airlines nearly quadruples in size from Panama City since 2006
Panama’s largest international carrier (and one of two) has been on a roll for the past decade. It has grown into one of the premier international airlines in all of Latin America, and Panama City is considered the gateway between North and South America. Here’s some data as to how, and why that’s happened.
Looking back at the past decade of the Star Alliance member’s operations from Panama City, one thing is quite evident, the scale of its expansion from the airport. Since 2006, Copa’s capacity from Panama City has increased by 292%, nearly quadrupling its operation. Within that time the airline has grown the total number of destinations its serves from Panama City from 33 to 74, a net increase of 41. The biggest year for growth was 2011, when the airline increased its seat offering by nearly 26%. This followed the only year in which the airline reduced its capacity from the airport, down 1.9% in 2010 (highlighted in light green) when compared to 2009.
Source: Anna Aero
Huge overwater bungalow project is headed to Bocas del Toro
Bocas del Toro is one of the most visited places in Panama as far as tourism goes. Now, it looks like that reputation will only get bigger, with the announcement of a huge new overwater hotel development in the island chain.
Now you can get the floating villa experience beyond jetting to Bora Bora, Fiji, and Thailand. A trio of resorts is introducing the concept in Mexico, Jamaica, and Panama—where growing demand for luxury has made overwater bungalows a no-brainer for hoteliers.
The first to open its doors will be the Palafitos at El Dorado Maroma, in the Riviera Maya, with 30 villas that hover over the Caribbean Sea. They’re still under construction, with bookings being snapped up for Sept. 1 and beyond.
Source: Bloomberg
The Panama Canal’s unexpected winners
It’s all about international business when you talk about the Panama Canal. With ports benefiting from the waterway in each and every part of the world, the impact of this new widening goes far beyond Panama and it’s economy. Here’s why some of the biggest winners may not be places you thought of before.
Indeed, it can be argued that Seattle, in the US northwest, became the technological hub it currently is thanks to the Panama Canal:. By lowering costs it allowed massive amounts of timber produced there to be used on the US east coast. One of the big beneficiaries of the boom was one William Boeing, who was able to use his profits in the timber trade to sustain a little aviation company. And the rest is history.
But probably the biggest winner of the construction of the original Panama Canal was not Panama or the USA, but the small Caribbean island of Barbados, which provided a significant percentage of the workforce that built it. That meant lots of money sent back home in remittances, more women entering the local economy, better local wages and the development of a banking system that turned Barbados into one of the Caribbean’s more important financial centers.
Source: BBC News
