Canal reduces workforce as trandit cancellations mount

There have been 52 cancellations  of vessels   planning to transit the Panama Canal and  its  10.000 workforce has been reduced by 30 percent for the next 14 days

“We will continue to operate the Canal as long as human capital is not at risk,” said  the Administrator  Ricaurte Vásquez  

Asked about the economic projections and a possible decrease in income  Vasquez told La Prensa that everything will depend on the containment of the outbreak worldwide, the measures are taken by the ports of the United States and how quickly the production and industrial zones of Asia are reactivated.

“It seems that the  situation [of the routes] in Asia is normalizing, but what is happening on the east coast of the United States is not yet clear to us,” he said

But  “the economy is going to be slower.” Consequently, “the operation of the Panama Canal will be negatively affected. How much is what remains to be seen. ”

Six percent  of world trade passes through the Canal  operations are connected with 1,700 ports, and it serves 144 maritime routes and 160 countries

Vásquez, who at the beginning of the year had warned about the great challenge of preserving water and hence the need to establish a fixed charge for the use of this resource, indicated that it will not be until the end of April when there will be a volume of ship traffic that It would respond to current circumstances, which could somehow serve as a barometer for the months ahead.

For fiscal year 2020, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) had calculated revenues of $3.26 billion, and direct contributions to the State of $1.824 billion.

The Panama Canal operates today, and for at least the next 14 days, with a workforce of 3,600 of its 10,000 employees, as part of the temporary and extreme measures carried out in the operations of the route as a result of the worldwide pandemic of Covid-19.

As of March 26, the Canal had confirmed 7 positive cases of coronavirus.  

There are 200 people in voluntary isolation and another 600 workers forced by the Ministry of Health to quarantine their homes, due to contacts with sick relatives or spouses.

Most of the workers have been sent home for two weeks on vacation, while others work in the telework mode, and those who are part of the daily operation in the transit of ships are and will be assigned to work with the same crews. to have the option of isolating the entire group, in case a new case of Covid-19 occurs.

Conversations are being held between the road administration and the workers to make changes in shift rotation, with the aim of having fewer people exposed each time a ship transits.

It will be important to take extreme security measures to continue guaranteeing service to the world in times of such economic fragility and humanitarian crisis.

“We have to serve the ships that request transit and we continue to do that day by day. The coronavirus crisis is very different from any other that we have seen […] We are generating knowledge as we go along and we will continue to work so that we can allocate resources safely, complying with sanitary regulations in order to serve the customers, ”said Vásquez