An opportunity many will never get ...

Members of the Caribbean Shipping Association (CSA), observers, and participants attending the 43rd Annual General Meeting, Conference and Exhibition in Panama next month will get an opportunity not many persons in global shipping will ever get. On Tuesday, October 8, all conference participants will ride one of the oldest railroads in the hemisphere from the city of Colón to Miraflores Locks to personally witness the final stages of what has been described as the largest construction project on the planet.

By the time CSA members and observers arrive in Panama, the first four of 16 massive lock gates would have already arrived in Panama for installation on the Caribbean side of the canal. Each of these lock gates weighs 3,300 tons.

Participants will depart the Sheraton Panama Hotel and Convention Centre in Panama City, heading north for a one-hour ride to Colón. In Colón, they will be hosted by Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT). Following presentations on MIT and an update on the Panama Canal expansion project, conference participants will tour the award-winning facilities at MIT before boarding the train to the Panama Canal's Miraflores Locks.

The expansion of the Panama Canal will allow much larger ships in the global trade to transit between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The far-reaching implications of this massive project have been discussed extensively for the past five years.

As the end of this massive, game-changing multibillion-dollar construction project draws near, the CSA affords conference participants the rare opportunity to see and experience it for themselves.