OPINION: Panama Canal government milch cow days ending

The administrator of the Panama Canal, Ricaurte Vásquez, has been direct and frank in his description of the current panorama of the interoceanic route. On the one hand, the Canal has competition, while the center of world trade has shifted from the North Atlantic basin to the Pacific basin.

 Panama has been pushed towards a corner of world trade and new concerns, such as geopolitical controversies and the effects of climate change on the availability of water for the operation of the Canal, acquire first importance.

In that scenario, the window of opportunity that we had for the potential development of new logistics businesses seems to have closed. The lack of planning and politicking  ate the time that gave us the extension of the Canal for a development strategy.

Now we have, as the administrator acknowledges, a time of uncertainty and volatility. In other words, we must maintain extremely realistic and pragmatic expectations about our economy. Maybe the fat cow days  are over. It is time to understand that the Canal is not the petty cash of the government on duty – LA PRENSA, Oct 23.