Welcome to the Panama Weekly News Roundup! Panama ratifies strategic trade pact with Mexico. The animals are being saved from Canal Expansion. US ports compete for post-Panamax business, and Panama is labeled the “next Riviera Maya.” Here’s the latest.
Ceviche, Jazz, and More: Why Panama City Is Looking Like the Next Riviera Maya.
Panama continues to get global attention as a tourist destination, and is quickly becoming the go-to Latin American vacation choice for many North Americans. This week, Yahoo Travel called it “the next Riviera Maya”, likening it to the famed, sunny beach towns of Mexico’s Caribbean coast. They highlighted the easy flight from the Northeast US, a richness of culture, and a vibrant, and growing dining/nightlife scene.
Now that Tulum is what it is (beautiful, laid back, not terribly far from New York City airports, and therefore overrun with hip city folk looking for a stress-free getaway), would-be vacationers are fixated on finding the next Riviera Maya. Panama is being floated as just that.
It’s a five-hour direct flight from New York City to Panama City, a home base from which to explore a handful of beach locales and the inland jungle. Don’t forgo the charms of Panama City’s Casco Viejo though: It looks like a mix between Havana and New Orleans and is experiencing a real-time resurgence centered around American Trade Hotel, a new hotel run by the Ace Hotel group in partnership with the local real estate development firm Conservatorio.
Source: Yahoo Travel
Panama’s National Assembly Ratifies Trade Pact with Mexico
This week, the Panamanian National Assembly ratified a major trade pact with Mexico. This is considered a big move, as it puts Panama in a great position to join the Pacific Alliance, of which Mexico is a partner state. The pact will open up trade in both countries of various products, and ease restrictions on imports.
The accord with Mexico “protects farm and agro-industrial products crucial for Panama, such as chicken and pork meat, eggs, dairy, sausages, coffee and wheat flour,” according to the Panamanian Trade Ministry.
The list of Panamanian products protected under the agreement, the government said, includes rice, palm oil, tomato sauces and paste, potatoes, onions, sugar, some fruit juices and carbonated beverages, as well as industrial products such as plastics, paper and aluminum.
Seaports to Compete for Business from Panama Canal Expansion
A bigger Canal means bigger business, but not just for Panama. As we’ve written about in the past, many US ports will see a change in their volume once the Canal expansion is complete. However, not every US port will necessarily see a major benefit. It is because of this reason, and the proximity to the opening date of the new waterway, that competition amongst US ports is beginning to heat up, when it comes to the potential for doing more business through Panama.
West Coast ports, including Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland and Seattle, are already servicing the Post-Panamax ships. However, JLL reports that the East Coast increased its traffic volume by almost 20 percent since 2007, while the West Coast has lagged by almost 7 percent. Dain Fedora, research manager for JLL, says some of the change in traffic can be traced to logistics managers hedging their bets on the best way to get the ships into the country.
“I think the key thing supply chain managers are thinking about is diversification, they don’t want to put all their eggs in one basket” Fedora says. “You can trace it in part to the strikes that have happened on the West Coast in recent years, where ships were literally waiting in the water for days to be docked and unloaded. If I’m a supply chain manager, I’m thinking that I don’t want to put my faith in one seaport, I want to be flexible in case of disruption or congestion.”
Source: NREIonline.com
Flora and Fauna Saved in Panama Canal Expansion
With so much construction going into the Panama Canal Expansion project, it’s inevitable that the natural wildlife habitat will be affected. Luckily, the National Environmental Authority, along with the Canal Authority, is working hard to keep it in tact. They are meticulously following construction efforts by moving species to new habitats, along with saving, and replanting local vegetation in the area.
Thousands of seedlings have also been planted in communities around Panama to take the place of trees that were felled to make way for bigger locks on both the Atlantic and Pacific, new access channels and other improvements as the canal updates to allow bigger ships to make the crossing.
The canal traverses some of the most biologically diverse territory in the Americas, but during its 1904-1914 construction, no such care was taken with the wildlife. It was hard enough keeping workers, who succumbed to tropical diseases by the thousands, alive.
Source: The Star Online
