Port of Galveston is latest Panama Canal partner

Yet another partnership with a U.S. port has been initiated by the Panama Canal Authority.

Panama Canal Authortiy (ACP) Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta and Port of Galveston Director Steven M. Cernak signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) during an official ceremony in Panama City, Panama. To date, several similar strategic alignments have been established by the ACP

The MOU aims to facilitate international trade and generate new business by promoting the “All-Water Route,” the route from Asia to the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts via the Panama Canal.

“There is a real reason U.S. West Coast ports should be concerned,” said Mary Brooks, a professor and William A. Black Chair of Commerce at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. “Our researchers are gathering data now to determine if shippers will opt for all-water service in the future.”

While Galveston is hardly a major ocean cargo gateway, it does facilitate the movement of a varied mix of domestic and international goods valued at more $1 billion a year.

This strategic alliance is valid for two years and is renewable upon mutual agreement.

The Panama Canal, which recently commemorated its one-millionth transit, is currently undergoing a historic $5.25 billion expansion. The project will add a new lane of traffic with the construction of a new set of locks, doubling the capacity of the waterway and allowing for the transit of longer, wider ships.

“We look forward to building upon our existing relationship with the Port of Galveston, which is a strategic geographic partner located only nine miles from the open Gulf of Mexico,” said Alemán Zubieta.