July Commerce Club Featuring Ambassador Juan B. Sosa, U.S.-Panama Business Council
The Greater Houston Port Bureau hosted its Commerce Club luncheon with featured speaker Ambassador Juan B. Sosa on July 25. During his presentation, Ambassador Sosa emphasized the strategic partnership between the Panama Canal and Houston’s port region.
“We have a strategic partnership that has been more than 100 years in the making,” said Sosa.
He began his talk by indicating there were several parallels between the development of the Panama Canal and Houston, beginning with the history of rail and its role t0 shipping across the isthmus of Panama and its similar role in Houston/Galveston in the late 1800s. He highlighted the history and business factors that impacted the growth of the two regions, including the inauguration of both the Houston Ship Channel and the Panama Canal in 1914.
He named containerization as one the biggest factors similarly affecting both regions in the last 70 years. In 2016, Panama completed its project to widen the Canal and add a new set of locks to facilitate bigger and deeper ships carrying four time as many container boxes. He said containers now represent the number one commodity of the Canal and have exponentially expanded Houston-Asia trade.
Today, the Panama Canal’s Panamax locks allow the passage of vessels carrying up to 5,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). The Neopanamax locks allow the passage of vessels of more than 14,000 TEUs. The largest container ship to date to have transited the Neopanamax locks is the CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt, with a total of 14,863 containers.
When Project 11 – the deepening and widening of the Houston Ship Channel – is completed, the waterway will accommodate ever-increasing vessel sizes, including larger containerships. It is expected that 15,000 TEU vessels will be able to call Port Houston's Bayport Terminal later this year, and the overall port region will continue to grow maritime marketshare.
Air connectivity and education, including medical training were additional factors noted by Sosa that comprise essential components of the Panama-Houston strategic partnership.
“Education has played a very important role. Texas is the number one state for Panamanian students in the United States, led by Texas A&M, … training captains in Panamanian maritime,” Sosa said. “… of the last four presidents in Panama, two have attended universities in Texas; two of three CEOs from the Panama Canal [Authority] attended Texas universities.”
Sosa noted other points of similarity that bring the Houston area, the state of Texas, and Panama into a close strategic partnership, even pointing out a similarity between the flags of Texas and Panama.
“I believe the best years of this friendship and cooperation are yet to come,” concluded Sosa.
Thank you to our Commerce Club sponsors!
Annual Table Sponsors:
Callan Marine • Chevron/Kirby • Enterprise Products Partners • Kinder Morgan • Houston Pilots • Intercontinental Terminals Company • Moran Shipping Agencies, Inc. • Pemex • Shell • Targa Resources • TGS Ceder Port Industrial Park • WGMA