Pennsylvania pledges $300 million to expand Port of Philadelphia
Pennsylvania state officials will spend $300 million to double container capacity at the Port of Philadelphia by 2020, preparing its cargo terminals to handle deeper-draft vessels expected from the improved Panama Canal, Governor Tom Wolf announced on Nov. 22.
The three-year program will steer investment funds to the port's infrastructure, warehousing, and equipment needs between 2017 and 2020, with a goal to double container capacity and position the port for future growth, state officials said.
The plan ranks among the largest investments by a state on the East Coast, and will impact three of the busiest sectors of the Port of Philadelphia, including the Packer Avenue Marine Terminal, the port's automobile-handling operation, and the Tioga Marine Terminal.
More Cruise Ships Plan to Take Advantage of the Newly Expanded Panama Canal
The newly expanded Panama Canal locks are open, and at least four cruise lines are planning to utilize the increased dimensions.
In the past, many cruise ships were specifically scaled to the former Panamax dimensions. This included Carnival Cruise Line’s Spirit-class and Princess Cruises’ Coral-class, but now, much larger ships, now classified as Neopanamax, can fit, opening up a whole new world of convenient itineraries for growing vessels.
Princess Cruises is currently planning regular Panama Canal transits as part of its winter 2017 to 2018 itineraries. The Caribbean Princess will specifically feature the new locks on a partial transit using only the northern set. Thirteen 10-day roundtrip voyages are scheduled from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, also visiting Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; Cartagena, Colombia; Colon, Panama; Limon, Costa Rica and Falmouth, Jamaica.
Panama approves banana production contract with Del Monte
Yesterday the Cabinet Council approved into law the contract that will allow the Banapiña de Panama SA company, a subsidiary of the Del Monte transnational fruit company, to invest more than $ 100 million dollars in banana production in the provinces of Chiriqui and Bocas del Toro, stated the president of the Republic, Juan Carlos Varela.
According to Varela, with the revival of this business through the Banapiña de Panama SA company would generate about 3,100 direct jobs and 12,000 indirect ones.
The contract stipulates that Banapiña de Panama will invest a minimum of 100 million dollars over seven years in the districts of Baru and Alanje, in the province of Chiriqui, and in the district of Chiriqui Grande, in Bocas del Toro.
The contract will last for 20 years and will be automatically renewable for the same period of time under the same terms and conditions, except for tax exemptions, which must be reviewed by the State at the end of the contract's first period.
Chinese companies interested in using Panama as LatAm entry point
Panama's positioning itself as a platform to distribute Chinese goods to Latin America offers a lot of potential, said Wang Weihua, permanent representative of China's Office of Commercial Development in Panama.
"Panama is already acting as a bridge, a window to transit Chinese merchandise to Latin America. I think that, given Panama's logistical development, this role will increase and will be enjoyed by more Chinese companies," he said in an interview with Xinhua on Thursday.
Wang added that Panama is a potential base for manufacturing plants, which is helped by the country's reputation as a logistical center.
According to Wang, the fact that a ship belonging to China's Cosco Shipping was the first to pass through the newly expanded Panama Canal on June 26 attracted a lot of attention to the country.
Wang said that a big Chinese business delegation arrived in Panama this week and visited the Panama Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (CCIAP).
Gobierno de Panamá y el BID preparan Estrategia Logística Nacional 2030
Llevar a Panamá a ser un competidor global en servicios y tecnología logística es el objetivo del Gabinete Logístico del Gobierno de la República que, junto al Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), preparan la Estrategia Logística Nacional 2030.
Durante el acto, celebrado en Casa Amarilla, el ministro de la Presidencia, Álvaro Alemán, expresó que a través de este Gabinete y en conjunto con el BID, se estará diseñando una Estrategia Logística Nacional con una visión 2030, que trascienda esta Administración.
Esta herramienta consensuada ayudará a potenciar la posición geográfica del país y los activos logísticos existentes, el Canal y su expansión, los puertos, aeropuertos, áreas logísticas (zonas económicas especiales, parques logísticos y zonas francas), el ferrocarril y los pasos de frontera.
Inter-American financial institution moves headquarters to Panama to boost regional infrastructure financing
The Inter-American Corporation for Infrastructure Financing (CIFI), a leader non-bank financial institution dedicated to run projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, has decided to move its headquarters to Panama City. The objective of this measure is to leverage closer to the region to further boost its activity there.
The move to Panama coincides with the 15th anniversary of the corporation. Since the beginning of its activity in 2001, CIFI has evaluated over 600 potential transactions, of which has financed over 160, representing total investments of more than US1.3 billion dollars. All these projects have played a key role in economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
"Panama is a key financial center in Latin America and the Caribbean which concentrates 90 banks. Our presence here will help strengthen that role, given the importance of our shareholder: commercial banks, private investment funds and multilateral agencies," said César Cañedo, CEO of CIFI.