Costs may drive lines away from Panama Canal

Praises were sung yesterday for the Panama Canal's now nationally approved plan to develop a third lock system to accommodate larger vessels, but shipping lines are still worried about the rising costs. C. Thomas Burke, senior advisor to the president of K Line - America told the Terminal Operators Conference sponsored by Informa that the Panama Canal Authority has done "a magnificent job in running the canal" and has made it a profitable business. But off the dais, he told Fairplay that he is worried that the increased tolls to pay for the expansion could force ship operators to seek other routes, adding that it is unfair for the entire burden of cost to be heaped on the lines. "Everybody wants to have their cake and eat it too," Fairplay was told by Rodolfo Sabonge, director of corporate planning and marketing for the ACP. He quickly added that rates will not be hiked to the point that alternative routes become more financially attractive.