Can the Panama Canal Handle the Iran Fallout?

Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, Administrator of the Panama Canal Authority, the man responsible for a waterway offering many shippers an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, joined Jay Sapsford to discuss global trade, energy, and strategic infrastructure.

The Panama Canal already carries 5% of the world's maritime trade and 40% of all U.S. container traffic. Now, the short-cut between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans faces growing demand after the Iran conflict has forced a real-time rerouting of global shipping. And that surge comes just as Panama was already under intense public scrutiny.

Mr. Morales’ team had just addressed a water shortage crisis when a fight broke out between the U.S. and China – its two largest customers - over who operates the terminals on either side of the waterway. Now, the authority is pushing an ambitious expansion to boost its water supply, expand container capacity, and build a new energy pipeline.

Morales spoke to what all of this means for the companies that move goods through a consequential 50-mile stretch of water, and what business leaders should expect from one of the world's busiest chokepoints.

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