A SUPERPORT delegation, led by Bernard Molloy, Chair of the Liverpool City Region LEP SUPERPORT Committee, visited Panama last week to build commercial relationships in the Latin American market.
The delegation, which also included Peter Faker from Peel Ports and Paul Eadie of UKTI, met with leading figures from Government, the Panama Canal Authority, Panama Ports Company and a number of large importers and exporters from the region including JCB, Aggreko and Panama Pacifico.
Over £1bn is currently being invested in Liverpool City Region SUPERPORT to make it a global freight and logistics hub for UK and Ireland. Liverpool is ideally positioned to take advantage of the rapid growth of Latin American trade and the £3.5bn expansion of the Panama Canal, scheduled for completion at the end of 2015, allowing it to take much larger vessels and helping Panama establish itself as the logistics hub for Latin America.
The Port of Liverpool already handles 45% of all UK container traffic with North America and with the development of its own deep water port facility at Liverpool2 will be able to handle the largest vessels travelling through the expanded Panama Canal – and with it a significant proportion of the UK’s trade with Latin America.
Bernard Molloy, SUPERPORT Chair and Global Industrial Logistics Director with Unipart was delighted with the reception the SUPERPORT delegation received. “They really rolled out the red carpet for us in Panama and completely understood SUPERPORT and its relevance to them. Panama is doing much the same as we are in creating a global logistics hub for their region and the synergies between us are considerable.”
The visit was supported by UK Government, whose leading representative in Panama, Her Majesty’s Ambassador Dr Ian Collard, hosted the delegation personally. Dr Collard said: “We are delighted to see the interest shown in both the UK and Panama for developing closer trade links between our countries, including through Liverpool SUPERPORT. This is a great opportunity to increase our engagement with the fast growing Latin American economies.”
Peter Faker, Sales Director (Containers) for Peel Ports added: “The developments in Panama, both as a regional hub and in terms of handling significantly larger vessels in the Canal closely mirror the SUPERPORT strategy. Peel Ports are investing £300 million in the post Panamax Liverpool2 berths and the logistics capabilities of Port Salford and the Manchester Ship Canal. We are very happy to see potential for trade growth in association with Panama.”
Officials from the Panama Port and Canal Authorities have been invited to visit Liverpool to coincide with the International Festival of Business (IFB) in June 2014 to share their plans and strengthen the relationship.
A follow up visit to Panama is planned for Autumn 2014 involving a wider trade delegation, supported by UKTI and involving further trade partners from the City Region and wider North West. Any organisations interested in participating in this delegation should contact SUPERPORT Manager, Claire Delahunty at the Liverpool City Region LEP on claire.delahunty@liverpoolep.org