Perishables shippers expect an enlarged Panama Canal to offer fresh transhipment options

Panama Canal expansion © Viaggiare1

After nine years of construction, 130m tonnes of excavated spoil and 4.4m cu metres of concrete, the Panama Canal’s third set of locks will be inaugurated in June ? barring any further delays.

The mammoth US$5bn project expects to see the average capacity of containerships transiting the canal nearly triple, from 5,000 teu to 14,000 teu, ushering in a new post-panamax era for container shipping.

Industry debate on how the expansion will affect container supply chains largely centres on whether US east coast (USEC) ...