3:23pm | Port trade officials took steps to encourage trade between Latin America and the U.S. today when the Port of Long Beach and Panama Canal Authority signed a Memorandum of Understanding to exchange ideas for marketing, engineering, dredging technology and environmental practices.
The agreement seeks to increase trade between the Port of Long Beach with countries in the Caribbean and on South America’s east coast through the Panama Canal, according to a press release.
“Latin America is a relatively small but an emerging trade partner for our region,” said Richard Steinke, Port of Long Beach executive director in a press release. “This partnership will help increase our reach to this market as it expands.”
The Panama Canal is set to unveil a massive expansion in 2014 that the Port of Long Beach has anticipated will draw trade traffic to the U.S. east coast.
But industry experts in October predicted that the Port of Long Beach would not be negatively affected by a Panama Canal expansion, and port officials today released an insightful statement about the future:
While trade with Latin America accounts for a small percentage of the Port’s annual trade volume, officials hope to tap into emerging manufacturing markets to boost future trade. The Canal is undergoing an expansion project expected to be completed by 2014, which will allow larger ships to transit through.
“The Port of Long Beach is a key logistics leader, and we look forward to promoting the Canal to increase international trade among Long Beach, Latin America and the Caribbean,” said Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta.