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Gate Operations
Panama - The Panama Canal Authority
announced that its second tie-up station,
located at Cartagena approach, is in full
operation.
Spokesmen for The Panama Canal Authority (ACP)
said that the new station allows the Canal
to transit at least one additional vessel
per day.
According to ACP executive vice
president of operations, Manuel Benítez, the
management of the Canal has been trying to
increase daily transits.
"The Cartagena tie-up station allows us to
transit at least one more vessel per day,”
he said, noting that each additional vessel
to transit increases capacity, providing
carriers with costs savings.
The news comes at a time when the ACP is
concentrating its efforts to widen the canal
for an anticipated surge in shipping.
Alberto Alemán Zubieta, administrator and
CEO of ACP said shippers could expect a more
robust recovery.
“Our economic advisors are studying trends
pointing to a rebound in shipping,” he told
LM in an interview. “Our findings suggest a
recovery at the end of 2009 or early 2010.”
The way the ACP schedules vessel transits,
traffic goes northbound (Pacific to
Atlantic) in the morning and switches to
southbound (Atlantic to Pacific) in the
afternoon. Before the introduction of these
tie-up stations, in the afternoon, for
example, the two locks on the Pacific end of
the Canal would have been idle until nearly
the end of all of the southbound traffic.
The tie-up stations utilize this down time
by allowing northbound traffic in the
afternoon to go through both the Miraflores
and Pedro Miguel locks - then these ships
are secured at the tie-up station, wait for
all of the southbound traffic to pass and
continue their transit.
Along with the new track and turntable
system in the Gatun locks and an enhanced
tug fleet, the ACP has increased daily
transits to more than 40 per day. |
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