SHIPPING SERVICES
widened with the majority of the work done by the ACP as it is most experienced to safely work around transiting vessels. In addition to the dredging work in
Gatun Lake, the Gaillard Cut/Gatun Lake expansion and dredging project, is scheduled for completion by the end of 2013. It will see the navigation channels deepened to 9.14mtr and widened to a minimum width of 218mtr. As part of the programme, the level at Gatun Lake will be raised by 0.45mtr to 27.1mtr (PLD) a year later and will provide additional water storage capacity to make 1,000 additional lockages a year.
The ACP has restructured and added
over 300 employees to its dredging division to perform the remaining dredging with the existing and new equipment. In house- works are aided by a backhoe excavator, Cornelius, which has been chartered from Boksalis for a year and also the new 11,787kW stationary cutter suction dredger Quibian 1, built at IHC Merwede shipyard in the Netherlands. Furthermore, in April 2011 the ACP awarded Dutch company IHC Engineering Business, a part of IHC Merwede Group, a contract for the design and construction of a new backhoe dredge. The addition of this new dredge to the ACP existing fleet in December 2012 will increase its ability to effectively dredge as part of the expansion programme and future maintenance projects.
Maritime Services Panama provides a wide range of
maritime services from the world’s largest shipping companies that have established regional operations in the country, inspection and survey companies to port construction and consulting firms.
Maersk Line has centralised all Latin American operational functions in a operations centre at the port of Balboa.
The A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, which
is the parent company of the Canal’s largest customer, Maersk Line, is headquartered in Costa del Este which houses Maersk Line Caribbean Sea Cluster, APMTerminals, Damco and Maersk Logistics Latin America, employs more than 400 staff. ECS Panama which specialises in repairing containers has recently moved into a new state of the art facility inside the port of Balboa offering a larger repair capacity and capabilities to handle any type of repair and equipment.
Maersk Logistics, now a separate unit
from the liner, caters to all shipping lines as well as Maersk Line, allowing the latter to focus on its shipping activities. Maersk Logistics Latin America and the technical support unit for vessels operations are now based in Panama. Two years ago, A.P. Moller-Maersk re- organised the global container business company with Maersk Line Latin America being divided into six regions: Mexico, Middle America, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Panama (covering Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela and the Caribbean Islands). Maersk Line has centralised all Latin American operational functions in a operations centre located at the port of Balboa. This has allowed the line to capture and benefit from expertise of vessel planners, capacity and equipment coordination as well as centralised procurement, bringing improvements to operational execution. APL, through its predecessor the Pacific Mail Steam Ship Company, was present in Panama long before the Panama Canal was inaugurated in 1914. PMSSC introduced a pioneering coastal steamship service between Panama and California for passengers and freight in 1848. In the modern age, in 1995, APL began the first, dedicated all-water East Coast Service from Asia to the US East Coast, with calls at Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT).
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