The Mexican train is not seen as a competitor to the Panamanians

Although the vision of building a dry channel through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (Mexico) is a competition with Panama CanalIn practice, these are two different scenarios in terms of logistics.

This was explained by experts at the forum Global Trade Challenges 2024: Suez Canal and Panama Canalorganized by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Panama.

MasContainer, a media specialized in logistics and trade, quoted former director of the Panama Canal, Jorge Luis Quijano, who said that any sea canal is more cost-effective than taking containers off a ship, putting them on a truck or rail and picking them up somewhere else.

Quijano explained that the Tehuantepec train expects to move 300,000 containers by 2028, while the Panama Canal, under normal conditions, It transports 500 to 510 million tons of cargo every year.

Furthermore, the former Canal manager revealed that more than competing with the transoceanic route, the train that opened in Mexico in December seeks increase in local production.

“The Most of the factories are located north of Mexico because of the proximity to the USA,” explained Quijano, who pointed out that Mexican President Andrés López Obrador is trying to attract investors to the area with “great poverty.”

At the forum, the panelists reminded that Panama has a dry channel, and the railway operates at 50% of its capacity.

“It is not stealing anything from the Canal, but has supplemented the logistics system,” Quijano added, stressing that ” the maritime logistics conglomerate contributes 31% to the country’s GDP“.

For his part, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, director of operations for shipping company ONE Panama, said yes The Panamanian railway provides more security than the Mexican one.

“In Mexico, they will put a container to travel 300 kilometers versus the ‘dry canal’ in Panama of only 80 kilometers. He The transport I will use to go to Mexico can take six to seven hours, just the journey while if I load it in Panama, it will take me four, and that is to assemble the container and start the journey,” he said.