BRIEFS. maritime

Ports register double-digit growth

The country’s port system received nearly 4 million TEUs (shipping containers measuring 20 feet in length) between January and October of this year, equivalent to a growth of 15.1 percent compared to the same period last year.

Some 1.7 million TEUs unloaded and 2 million shipped from Panamanian ports on either side of the Canal, according to records from the Maritime Authority.

Nearly all of the country’s major ports registered growth. The port of Balboa, for example, which is managed and operated by Panama Ports Company, processed 1.7 million TEUs, an increase of 20.3 percent. The port of Cristóbal, meanwhile, saw a volume increase of 34.1 percent, or 240,000 more containers than last year.

Manzanillo International Terminal reported 1.3 TEUs during the first eight months of the year, an increase of 26.4 percent.

By contrast, the Colón Container Terminal was the only port to drop in volume. Representatives reported receiving 515,199 containers between January and August of this year, a fall of 18.9 percent from 2007.

Maritime authorities expect to end the year with a total of five million or more TEUs.