Nearly 14,300 ships transit the Panama Canal each year with more than 200 million tons of cargo and 850,000 passengers and crew onboard. Because of this traffic and modern port facilities, Panama is expected to become the region’s principal multi-modal logistics center in coming years. Today, Panama has the largest maritime fleet in the world and its four new container ports represent a total investment of over U.S. $ 5.5 billion.
Panama is known for providing a wide range of services, especially the maritime sector which has benefited from the system or open registry flag vessels has enabled the Republic of Panama have the largest merchant fleet in the world.
The registration of vessels and gross tonnage of the foreign service in the merchant navy Panamanian keeps growing (6.8%) compared to December 31, 2009. At December 31, 2010, the number of ships that formed the naves1 fleet is 8.899, representing 221,903,127 GRT's. The new Panamanian flag in the registry, are very  importance, since for the period January to December 2010 were  1.316 new records, of which 97.0% of gross registered tonnage was  cargo ships of foreign trade and 3.0% TRB other activities. In this regard, 46.6% correspond to the new flag TRB’s ships with 80.001 or more.
Another crucial fact encouraging the growth of the ports sector is that on February 6, 2009 a new Merchant Shipping Law comes into force. In addition, the national government spent $ 5 million for investment in 13 projects to improve docks and berths in the country. For example, after modernization, the port of Balboa on the Pacific side will have 1500 meters of deep-water wharf and 50 hectares container terminal.
The Panamanian registry, was first included on the White List of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris MOU) according to a press release this month of May 2011, the memorandum indicates that among the skill levels that can have a record in this MOU (black, gray and white), Panama has placed among a select group of countries that meet the highest grades in the standards of maritime safety. The list of countries that enter the Paris MOU white list will be released in June this year and the annual report of the Paris MOU will be published at the end of next July said the representatives of this organization.
Comparative growth
For the period January to December 2010, the movement of containers in Panama increased by 32.4% (units) and 31.8% (TEU's), compared with the same period in 2009. Similarly, containerized cargo (metric tons) increased by 30.9%. The increase in container throughput in units, we can observe in ports such as Manzanillo (12.0%), Panama Ports Co. Balboa (37.2%), Cristobal Panama Ports Co. (108.4%) and Bocas Fruit Co., Admiral (14.1% ). Of note is the significant increase Cristobal Panama Ports Co., due to the increase in container shipping 243.473 (in units) for the period January to December 2010, compared to 110.709 (in units) for the same period in 2009.
As the movement of containers in TEU's, the national port system for the period January to December 2010, registered an increase in all the private ports. The port that stands out is Panama Ports Co. Christopher, whose increase was 94.1%. This was because for the period 2010 recorded 375.570 (TEUs) for the same period in 2009, recorded 182.639 (TEUs) in shipments.
Currently, the main ports are:
On the Atlantic Coast.
Manzanillo International Terminal (Stevedoring Services of America)
Colon Container Terminal (Evergreen International Corporation)
Colon Port Terminal (Hutchinson Port Holdings)
Colon 2000 (Cruise Ship Terminal)
On the Pacific side:
Panama Port Terminal S.A (Hutchinson Port Holdings)
Rodman (Alireza - Mobil) for fuel loading and unloading.
Railroad
The Panama Canal Railway Company (PCRC) is in the process of implementing the Positive Train Control dispatch system "Train Sentinel (R)." which is a design of Quantum Engineering, Inc. that incorporates the latest in dispatch computer systems, providing location information by means of global positioning satellites. The technology allows the driver to be informed of different possible situations before they occur. Stopping the train if the operator fails to respond properly in order to prevent collisions between trains, giving speed restrictions and providing at the same time a high level of protection for field workers and their equipment
Panama Canal Railway Company (PCRC) is prepared for the future growth of the activity by the railroad and for that reason, continues its expansion plan, which has not stopped since the beginning. Precisely the railroad is investing $ 14 million to expand existing roads, expand terminals, improving signal systems, among other improvements. The current capacity is 500,000 rail containers
Customers largest transshipment center of Panama are Maersk, MSC (number 1 and 2 respectively), APL, MOL, CMA CGM (3), Evergreen, Hapag Lloyd, among others. Panama is the only country in Latin America that offers a dry water channel coupled with the most modern container terminals in the region, which has allowed them to settle for the second consecutive year in positions 1 and 2 ranking in Latin America developed port by ECLAC.
Highways
Panama’s total road network comprises 14,391.10 km. 60% of such are unpaved, according to reports from the Ministry of Public Works (MOP). Between 2006 and 2009, there were nearly 600 projects in progress to enhance it.
The Republic of Panama has three main roads:
The Pan American Highway is the most important. It runs from Paso Canoa, on the border with Costa Rica to the town of Yaviza in the Province of Darien. This stretch at Darien’s jungle was built by the Americans during the 70s and is the last destination of the route.
The Central Road is located in the Azuero Peninsula, and runs from Divisa to Pedasi.
The Trans-Isthmian Road leading from Panama City to the province of Colon.
Corredor Norte: Built in 1998, connecting downtown with the reverted areas and the main northern suburbs of the city. Designed originally to 25 km because of problems in its construction has only reached the first stage of 12 km. Is currently building its second phase from reaching the Tocumen International Airport allowing bypass of the city of Panama through its connection with the Southern Corridor.
Corredor Sur: is a viaduct that crosses part of the Bay of Panama, which extends from the San Francisco area to the vicinity of the Tocumen International Airport. Its main function is traffic congestion to and from the airport. In conjunction with the Northern Corridor Transit reduces the volume of the city in general and becomes the fastest way to go in and out of town, the South corridor enables time savings of more than 30 minutes to the rest the alternate routes.
The Road Maintenance Fund (Fomavi) is an initiative sponsored with $ 70 million from the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) and 30 million contribution package from the national government. Both sources of funding produce a fixed income and do not create a fiscal obligation or sacrifice for the nation.
The fund is characterized by being autonomous, as having the ability to perform rehabilitation, particularly for roads maintenance and is governed by a Board of Directors. It is expected that among its achievements will be promotion of greater private sector participation, employment generation, and decentralization of inter-city roads, ensuring financial sustainability and continued implementation maintenance service providing an efficient road network for the country.
Airports
The fortunate location of Panama and the enclaves in the service sector has allowed this dynamic and competitive industry generates 75% of GDP. Air transportation, along with the Panama Canal, is the key infrastructure that makes this possible by its connection to foreign markets and trade routes.
Tocumen International Airport in Panama is the main hub for connecting passengers between North, Central and South America. A third of all passengers are in transit, the highest proportion of all the world's airports that handle two million passengers. This is a measure that shows how efficiently consolidate passengers to serve city pairs that do not generate enough traffic to justify the point to point service.
Panama is making significant reforms to its facilities the government is going to invest U.S. $ 850 million over the next five years. Â In 2010 the airport handled about 5.2 million passengers and the reconstruction of new terminals allow the arrival of very large aircrafts like the Airbus A380, aircraft that have two covers over your entire body. Â The authorities are banking on turning the country into "Cargo Hub of the Americas" and a hub for airlines, which will have promotional packages. In conjunction with investments, the authorities had announced a system of private concessions to install a wide range of services to passengers.
Panama has 27 public and 41 private airports. From these public airports, 5 are full fledged airports, meaning that they have immigration and customs services. Our main international airport is Tocumen, located a 15 minutes from Panama City, and may be easily accessed by a modem highway (Southern Corridor). The second most important airport is Marcos A. Gelabert, located as well in the capital city, providing services to national and international flights.
HOME
CONTACT
US 
SITEMAP
