KCS leaders visit PCRC, expansion projects

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor

In December 2014, several Kansas City Southern officers and Chairman of the Board of Directors Bob Druten traveled to Panama to visit the Panama Canal Railway Company (PCRC) to see the railroad and review its maintenance and expansion projects.

 

While there, they met with executives of the Panama Canal Authority to learn more about their expansion projects, including plans to develop a new port terminal at Corozal on the Pacific side of the Canal. KCS also met with some of the world’s largest terminal operators, including Manzanillo Internal Terminal and Hutchison Port Holdings Panama.

“The growth taking place in Panama right now is truly astonishing, which bodes very well for the future of the Panama Canal Railway,” said KCS President and Chief Executive Officer Dave Starling. “PCRC was the first transcontinental railroad built in North America in 1855 and has enjoyed a close, strategic relationship with the Panama Canal since its inception. Tom Kenna [PCRC president] and his team have done an outstanding job positioning PCRC for growth and success for many years to come.”

The project to expand the Panama Canal is expected to cost more than $5 billion and be completed in early 2016. It is now 83 percent complete. The project includes construction of two new sets of locks, one on the Pacific and one on the Atlantic side of the canal. Each lock will have three chambers and each chamber will have three water reutilization basins. The project also entails the widening and deepening of existing navigational channels in Gatun Lake and the deepening of Culebra Cut.

The Panama Canal Authority has announced that the bid to award the concession for the New Corozal Port will take place in April 2015. The concession will be for 20 years with an expected investment of $600 million. The concession will be for the design, construction and operation of the port.

In 2014, 390,000 containers were handled by PCRC.

 

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