THE Panama Canal recently surpassed the Suez Canal - 51 per cent versus 49 per cent - as the most favoured route to the US east coast from Asia, reports Alphaliner.
Until now, Panama's share had been falling from 74 per cent in 2010 to 44 per cent in last February. And capacity on Far East to US east coast all-water route has surged 20 per cent year on year to hit a record 143,000 TEU this month, said Alphaliner.
Another factor are risks posed by the Suez route: pirates in the South China Seas and the Gulf of Aden, war risk off the Yemeni coast, terrorist incidents in the Suez Canal, legal liability for rescuing fleeing migrants in the Mediterranean, war risk in Libya that now includes possible encounters with the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) forces.
But Alphaliner says new services account for Panama's recovery. Five of the six Far East-US east coast strings launched or re-launched this year use Panama rather than Suez.
Sixteen strings routed through Panama have an aggregated weekly capacity of 73,000 TEU with an average capacity of 4,570 TEU, compared to nine strings via Suez with a full capacity of 70,000 TEU and an average capacity of 7,780 TEU.
The six of the biggest US east coast ports posted a 14 per cent year-on-year increase from January to May. Meanwhile six of the biggest US west coast ports reported a three per cent decline.
WORLD SHIPPING
16 July 2015 - 07:48
Panama again trumps Suez as favoured all-water way to US east coast
THE Panama Canal recently surpassed the Suez Canal - 51 per cent versus 49 per cent - as the most favoured route to the US east coast from Asia, reports Alphaliner.
WORLD SHIPPING
16 July 2015 - 07:48
Panama again trumps Suez as favoured all-water way to US east coast
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