AmericasDry CargoOperations

Panama seals deal to push more dry cargo through canal

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a body representing farmers to help increase soy and grain exports from northern Brazil using the Canal, according to Reuters.

ACP’s chief administrator Jorge Luis Quijano and the Association of Soybean and Corn Producers of Mato Grosso (Aprosoja) inked the agreement to cooperate on marketing and trade information activities and looking for ways to reduce transportation costs.

The signing was done in Cuiaba, state capital of Mato Grosso in the west of the country and hub for much of the grain production boom the country has been enjoying.

With a lot of that expansion moving through new terminals in the north of Brazil, ACP believes its expanded Canal offers a time saving of up to five days on routes to markets in Asia as compared to the Atlantic route around the Cape of Good Hope.

Only about 2 million tonnes of Brazil’s 60 million tonnes of annual soy exports went through the Canal in 2017.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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