Day 2 in Panama - I-CAL 2011

On Tuesday we all met downstairs and had a pretty normal American breakfast consisting of french toast, pineapples, pork with peppers and the worst coffee ever at our hotel. After breakfast we headed to the outside patio to get a briefing from Kirt Schultz for the Panamanian US Grains Council Office.

After the briefing we headed to the center of world trade, the Panama Canal. This was one of the most amazing things you could ever see. A route that makes trading much easier and faster is a huge portion of this countries economy. This route takes trade from a 13 day route to a 48 hour route of which only 8-10 are spent inside the canal zone. The canal is also a huge cost saver for transportation. It would cost about $3 million to travel around the americas where as through the panama canal most ships can travel for $300,000. The canal brings in between $4-5 million dollars per day. We arrived at the canal at 9:00 am to see two ships that had just passed our hotel prior to our departure arrive in the locks. This was one of the most amazing sights I have ever watched. In less than 10 minutes the vessel is raised 27 feet so that it could enter the next lock and the process repeats one more time until the ship enters the canal zone.

Our next visit was at the MIT Container Port. While on this visit we had lunch at the companies cafeteria and ate things such as Chicken, Pork Chops, Beef Soup/Stew with carrots a something similar to potatoes called yuka which was very starchy and for desert chocolate cake. At the MIT terminal 32 containers can be moved from a ship per hour, which equals about 35,000 containers per month. The largest vessels that enter the port contain about 4,000 containers. This terminal expects about 35-40% more traffic by volume after the canal expansion where ships will be large enough to hold up to 12,000 containers some estimates as high as 18,000 containers.

Our next visit was to the only grain elevator in Panama Port areas. This facility was owned by private companies to import grain which is mostly used for poultry feed. They receive 1 or 2 vessels per month and the buyers have 10 days to remove the grains from the facilities as they have very little storage space. They are currently in the process of expanding so that they can hold double the amount of grain at one time.

For dinner we met Egna, The Panama US Grains Council Office Administrative Assistant as a local dining location. For dinner I had a pork sandwich with cheese and fries.

Overall today was a great day in the country of Panama, where a lot was learned and many cultural experiences were had.

From Panama, The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same,

Matt