http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2009/06/01/daily28.html
Baltimore Business Journal - by Scott Dance Staff
The Panama Canal Authority has signed an agreement with the Maryland Port Administration to encourage shippers to visit Baltimore and other East Coast ports via the canal.
The deal could bring more business from Asia to Maryland ports. Meanwhile, Port of Baltimore officials are working to prepare the region’s terminals for an uptick in business that could come when the canal is widened in 2014.
“With the current economic climate, it has never been more important to provide optimal customer service, and this agreement will enable us to fully cooperate and work together for continued trade between Latin America, Asia and United States,” canal authority CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta said in a statement.
The MPA is currently shopping for a private-sector partner to enter a long-term lease at Seagirt Marine Terminal, the state’s main container cargo terminal handler. MPA leaders say a public-private partnership would help boost business at the port. It’s the fastest way to pay for a 50-foot berth needed to accommodate larger ships that will come through the widened canal, MPA Executive Director James J. White has said.
The Port of Baltimore is one of two East Coast ports with a 50-foot channel, according to the MPA.
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