News Release
FOR RELEASE - October 30, 2007
Contact: Aaron Ellis, aellis@aapa-ports.org
703-706-4714
American Association of Port Authorities
Phone: (202) 792-4033
www.aapa-ports.org
The administrator of the Panama Canal Authority. The U.S. Maritime Administration's (MARAD) top executive. Senior executives of major shipping lines such as Zim, CMA-CGM and Maersk. The U.S. Army's assistant secretary for civil works. These are just a few of the luminaries who will be leading discussions at the American Association of Port Authorities' (AAPA) Panama Canal Expansion Workshop in Tampa, Fla., Jan. 23-24, 2008.
Cosponsored by MARAD and hosted by the Tampa Port Authority, this 1½ -day program will examine shifting international trade routes, anticipated waterside and terminal development needs, landside infrastructure requirements, financing opportunities and a host of other topics related to the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal, which got underway in September.
"From cruise ships to container ships and bulk carriers to vessels that transport automobiles, for nearly a century the Panama Canal has played an increasingly vital role for moving people and cargo from one side of the globe to the other," said Kurt Nagle, AAPA's president and CEO. "Expanding this crucial trans-ocean shipping lane to accommodate more and larger ships presents a host of challenges and opportunities, ranging from increased trade to major new investments in water- and land-side transportation infrastructure. With a blue ribbon roster of presenters, our Panama Canal Expansion Workshop is a ‘must' for just about everyone involved in the goods movement industry."
Day one of the program begins with a presentation on global trade pattern shifts predicted to result from an expanded Panama Canal, followed by a presentation from the Canal's administrator, Alberto Alemán Zubieta, and the host port's key executive, Tampa Port Authority CEO Richard Wainio, discussing the impacts and importance of this multi-billion-dollar, globally-influential undertaking. Other presentations that day include: a discussion on how shipping line routing decisions are made and factors ports need to consider to compete; a session featuring future port infrastructure development expectations; and a look at the likely impacts that an improved Panama Canal route will have on highway and railroad capacity and congestion.
Day two will focus on some of the financing options available to meet the anticipated infrastructure needs of increased trade and recreational ship volume through the Panama Canal. It will be followed by a roundtable discussion on how best to address, and benefit from, from the global changes that will occur when the improvement projects are completed in 2014-marking 100 years since the first ship transited the newly-opened Panama Canal locks and setting the stage for global shipping logistics in the 20th century and beyond.
More information about AAPA's Panama Canal Expansion Workshop is available at http://www.appa-ports.org/ (click on the "Programs & Events" tab) or by calling AAPA's Ed O'Connell at 703-684-5700.
| WHO: | American Association of Port Authorities, cosponsored by the U.S. Maritime Administration |
| WHAT: | Workshop covering shifting international trade routes and the global trade and infrastructure development implications resulting from an expanded Panama Canal |
| WHEN: | Jan. 23-24, 2008 (Day 1, 8:30am-4:45pm; Day 2, 8:30am-noon) |
| WHERE: | Sheraton Tampa Riverwalk Hotel, 200 N. Ashley Drive, Tampa, FL 33602; Tel: (813) 223-2222 |
