NEWS

The Panama Canal, as a shipping route connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, is directly connected to Asian-American maritime trade. According to statistics, 88% of the nearly 5% of the world's freight volume through the Panama Canal is trade goods between the United States and Asia, while trade goods related to China account for 38%. In view of this, the canal expansion project will have a profound impact on the global route network layout, especially the Asian American route layout.

recall that in the 1980 s, 80% of the container cargo between the Far East and the East of the United States passed through the Panama Canal, while the remaining 20% was mostly transported to the east coast of the United States by North American railway or road. After the 1990 s, the situation was completely reversed, with only 20% passing through the canal and 80% passing through the railway and road. The important reason for this transportation pattern is the restriction on the passage of the Panama Canal. The emergence of so-called "super-Panamanian" large container ships and their investment in the US-West route illustrate this phenomenon.

After the expansion of the
Canal, the navigation of 8000 ~ 12000TEU container ships, the single-ship scale effect is prominent, the shipping company's transportation costs are reduced, the attractiveness is enhanced, affecting the global container route layout. In the near future, the expansion of the Panama Canal will greatly attract shipping companies to open or increase flights to the east coast of the United States via the canal, greatly changing the 20/80 ratio of sea and land for container cargo between the Far East and the East of the United States, even approaching 50/50. In the medium and long term, first, it is helpful for shipping companies to use 12000TEU container ships to establish a round-trip two-way equatorial route (this is also a topic discussed by the industry for many years) to build a global container east-west channel at low cost; Second, the equatorial route needs the support of the north-south branch line to increase the transshipment opportunities between the region and the equatorial route in multiple frequencies and small batches. Third, connecting three oceans through pendulum routes; fourth, it will help to build a regional transit feeder network within South Asia, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, connecting regional port systems, transoceanic routes and equatorial routes, and then forming a global container shipping route network.

It is
worth mentioning that the reconstruction of the container route network induced by the expansion of the Panama Canal will also affect global port changes. In the near term, the increase in flights to the East Coast of the United States via the canal will elevate the status of the East Coast port cluster such as New York/New Jersey. At present, the Panama Canal Administration has signed joint marketing agreements with 12 ports on the east coast of the United States. New York/New Jersey, Savannah and other ports are investing in expansion to meet the berthing of large ships with more than 8000 ~ 12000TEU. In the long term, the above-mentioned equatorial route will need the north-south branch as support. In order to expand the transshipment opportunity and scale with the equatorial route, A number of near-ocean trading ports in the North and South regions will also receive new development opportunities.
, it is understood that at present, the main ship type from the Far East to the West of the United States is 8000 ~ 10000TEU, while the largest ship type from the Far East to the East of the United States (through the Panama Canal) is reduced to 5000TEU. In addition, the main ship type from the Far East to the East of the United States (bypassing the Suez Canal) is 8000 ~ 10000TEU, mainly because the total transportation cost of one 8000TEU ship from the Far East to the East of the United States (crossing the Suez Canal) is lower than that of two 4000TEU Panamanian ships crossing the Panama Canal to the East of the United States.

After the expansion of the Panama Canal, the design size of the new lock can meet the current 99.4 per cent of existing and order container ships, I .e. container ships below 12000TEU can pass through the Panama Canal, only a few container ships cannot pass through the Canal, and such super container ships are mainly used on Asia-Europe routes. In the container market, ships above 8000TEU will become the main force in the transportation market from the Far East to the East of the United States. Compared with the cost and benefit, the current trend of large-scale ships may slow down the expansion of the Panama Canal, greatly promoting the development of the container shipping market from the East and West coasts of the Americas and from the Far East to the East of the United States, resulting in a sharp drop or even disappearance of the traffic ratio of containers from the Far East-East through the Suez Canal.