While volumes are down year-on-year numbers for 2022 remained above the last pre-Covid year still above 2019 and the expected trend in 2023 is that recovery will continue in a progressive manner, according to Seatrade.
“It was a year of two different halves. The first six months showed a positive trend reflecting the economies of the region and still carrying forward the good directions of 2021. But in the second half, high inflation, devaluation of several regional currencies and rising interest rates took their toll on transhipment volumes,” said Juan Carlos Croston, VP of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, at MIT.
Panama surpassed 7.3m teu in 2019, and volumes grew in 2020 to 7.7m teu during the pandemic, rebounding to 8.6m teu in 2021.
The terminal that moved the most containers in 2022 was Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT), exceeding 2.7m teu, followed by Balboa with 2.18m teu and Colon Container Terminal (CCT) with 1.44m teu.
However, CCT posted for third consecutive year the highest growth, with 37.1%, while MIT, Balboa, PSA and Colon showed a decrease of 2.5%, 6.6%, 4.7% and 12.8%, respectively.