Jorge Quijano News

The Panama Canal will allow vessels coming from Venezuela to transit the waterway provided they present the necessary paperwork, the canal authority's chief said on Wednesday, suggesting a new round of U.S. sanctions on the South American country may not make any difference to canal traffic.President Donald Trump's administration last week issued an executive order freezing all Venezuelan government assets in the United States. Shortly thereafter, U.S. officials ratcheted up threats against companies that do business with Venezuela.The measure did not explicitly place sanctions on non-U.S.

A 'Q-Flex' LNG tanker, the world's second-largest class of liquefied natural gas carriers, is set to pass through the Panama Canal for the first time, the canal's CEO said, expanding the Americas to Asia trade route for the fast-growing commodity.The 'Al Safliyah', which can carry about 210,000 cubic metres of LNG, is on its way to Panama from the North Pacific after discharging a cargo from Qatar into Korea Gas Corp's (KOGAS) Tongyeong terminal on April 21, shipping data in Refinitiv Eikon showed."This is the first Q-Flex to transit the Panama Canal…

The Panama Canal Board of Directors announced the appointment of Ricaurte Vasquez as the next Panama Canal Administrator.According to a press note from the artificial 82 km waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, Vasquez will take office on September 4, 2019, succeeding current Administrator Jorge L. Quijano, who concludes his seven-year term at the helm of the waterway.The decision was made by the Board of Directors in accordance to an independent, transparent and rigorous process mandated by the Panamanian Constitution and Organic Law of the Panama Canal Authority."As part of the Panama Canal Authority's autonomous institutional process…

The Panama Canal may carry five times as much liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2020 as it did last year as production of the fuel expands in the United States and Asian import demand rises, the head of the canal's governing agency told Reuters.LNG volumes traversing the Canal could hit 30 million tonnes a year before the end of 2020, said Jorge Quijano, who leads the Panama Canal Authority, up from 6 million tonnes last year.Demand for LNG has risen significantly in the last three years as the increase of supply…

The number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers traversing the Panama Canal is expected to jump 50 percent by September due to rising exports of the fuel from the United States, the head of the canal's governing agency told Reuters. After adding a third set of locks in 2016, the Panama Canal Authority expects that growing global demand for LNG will boost transit through the waterway, said Jorge Quijano, head of the authority. Demand for LNG has taken off in recent years because of abundant supplies of natural gas…

The connections between ships, ports and people were once again the focus for an international audience, as Panama hosted the 2017 World Maritime Day Parallel Event. The event was formally opened by His Excellency Mr Juan Carlos Varela Rodriguez, President of the Republic of Panama. During the keynote address, which focused on the World Maritime Day theme "Connecting ships, ports and people", IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim emphasized IMO's strong commitment to helping achieve the aims of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations. "Shipping and ports can play a significant role in helping to create conditions for increased prosperity and stability through promoting maritime trade.

The Panama Canal welcomed the largest capacity vessel to ever transit the Expanded Locks, the CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt. CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt  became the largest container ship ever to cross the new canal. Leaving the Port of Yangshan on July 28th, the CMA CGM giant crossed the new Panama Canal on August 22th. "Today's transit not only represents the growing success and adoption of the expanded canal, but also its impact on reshaping world trade," Jorge Quijano, the Panama Canal's adminstrator, said in a statement following the Theodore Roosevelt's passage. A notable event as, after 9 years of construction, the new canal was inaugurated a year ago. It is the first time a vessel of 14,000 TEUs is going through the revamped canal.

The head of the Panama Canal Authority said on Monday a Miami-based arbitration board rejected a demand by Spanish-led GUPC consortium for $192.8 million to cover cost overruns during the building of a third set of locks for the century-old waterway. GUPC or Grupo Unidos por el Canal includes Sacyr SA of Spain, Impregilo of Italy, Jan De Nul of Belgium and Constructura Urbana of Panama. The authority's chief executive, Jorge Quijano, announced the ruling in a post on his Facebook page. "We have been informed that we have won a major arbitration dealing with the expansion of the canal by the GUPC contractor for $192.8 million," Quijano wrote in a post.

The Panama Canal authority  (ACP) says a Chinese container ship’s damaging scrape with the canal’s new wider locks was caused by bad weather, Reuter quotes  ACP's  administrator, Jorge Quijano. He said that the only problem in the last month involved a China Shipping Container Lines ship, the Xin Fei Zhou, and it was due to intense rainfall and wind and the vessel not lining up correctly. Quijano says it was the only such incident in the widened canal’s first month of operation. He says unfortunately these things happen in their business. According to AP, before the canal’s inauguration, some tug boat captains expressed concern about having relatively little room to maneuver with the huge New Panamax ships.

The Panama Canal expansion project is now expected to be finished “mid of 2016” says a report in Reuters quoting the waterway's administrator. "The new set of larger locks for the Panama Canal will be complete by the end of June, after more than a year-long delay and after builders repaired cracks that had formed in the concrete walls," says  Jorge Quijano, who leads the Panama Canal Authority. The consortium building a third, bigger set of locks on one of the world's busiest maritime routes, headed by Italy's Salini Impregilo and Spain's Sacyr , is now in testing, the final step before the project's inauguration. Panama should start to benefit from the expansion in 2017…

The opening of a newly expanded Panama Canal, previously scheduled for April, will be postponed due to cracks detected in the new set of locks that are the centerpiece of the $5.25 billion overhaul, EFE quotes Panama Canal Authority (ACP) head Jorge Quijano as saying. The interoceanic waterway agency was still planning for the inauguration to occur during the second quarter of 2016 and no later than June. Under the new timetable, the GUPC consortium that is carrying out the expansion will begin navigation tests in April, Quijano said in statements to business leaders that the ACP forwarded to EFE. "We moved it to April due to these problems we had," the administrator said.

Though cracks were detected in the concrete walls of one of the locks of the newly expanded Panama Canal last month, the  Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is maintaining an April 2016 start date for the revamped inter-oceanic waterway, reports Fox News. ACP informed that the April 2016 date remains unchanged. It was waiting for the GUPC consortium, led by Spanish construction giant Sacyr Vallehermoso, to deliver it a report on the seepage that also states whether it will result in any delay in completing the expansion. However, the waterway’s deputy administrator Manuel Benitez told Reuters “it is likely,” when asked if there was a risk of delay.

The second Annual Danish Maritime Forum, scheduled for October 7-8, 2015, in Copenhagen, brings together a wealth of global maritime leaders to address present and long-term challenges for industry. Discussions at this year’s Danish Maritime Forum are influenced by volatility in global markets and uncertainties about future growth and will focus on how the maritime industry can address these challenges in both the short and long term. Other topical issues will include the New Chinese Silk Road, the global energy outlook and the future of ocean governance.

The $50 billion project of Hong Kong development company HKND to build an artificial waterway across Nicaragua to go ahead with some modification of the route of the canal to avoid affecting ecological zones and farming communities opposed to the project. The vice president of the Chinese company, Kwok Wai Pang, reportedly said that the HKND is studying modifications in the design of the channel. According to Kwok, adjustments seek to "avoid affecting the people of El Tule" located along the river of the same name where the road would, in the southern province of San Juan de Nicaragua, in response to "legitimate concerns" of their inhabitants.

Panama’s cabinet council has approved a request by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to modify the canal toll structure and implement volume-based discounts for container ships. The new toll schedule will take effect April 1, 2016. New tolls apply to all lanes, including the new third lane, according to the Panama authorities as reported by energy news provider Platts. It modifies the pricing structure for most canal segments and establishes a new segment specifically for LNG tankers - a key new market for the canal once the expansion is completed. "After working in close cooperation with our partners in the maritime industry, I am pleased we will be able to provide a more bespoke pricing solution for our customers…

As it enters the final stretch of a massive expansion, the Panama Canal Authority is setting its sights on an even more ambitious project worth up to $17 billion that would allow it to handle the world's biggest ships. Workers are now installing giant, 22-story lock gates to accommodate larger "Post-Panamax" ships through the Canal, one of the world's busiest maritime routes. The project involves building a third set of locks on the Canal. It is being headed by Italy's Salini Impregilo  and Spain's Sacyr, and should open on April 1, 2016.

The widened Panama Canal is expected to finally be up and running in April 2016, after months of delays and cost overruns, AFP reports. The expansion project area will allow bigger ships to transit, with two new sets of locks, one on the Pacific side and one on the Atlantic side. Grupo Unidos Por el Canal (GUPC) is carrying out the extensive upgrade to the canal's system of locks, to allow the waterway to accommodate ships carrying up to 14,000 containers of freight - triple the current size. The new shipping lane will be much wider, allowing larger vessels, including liquefied natural gas carriers, to pass through. For the last 100 years…

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) signed a cooperation agreement with the Port of Lake Charles in Louisiana earlier this week, which aims to attract new customers from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry; a strategy that builds upon the advantages that the expanded Canal will offer. Currently, LNG vessels cannot transit through the waterway due to their beam dimensions, which are too wide to fit the existing locks. The agreement will promote cooperation in marketing activities, information exchange, market research, training and technology, among other initiatives that will benefit both the Canal and the Port of Lake Charles. The Port of Lake Charles is a deep water port with entry into the Gulf of Mexico…

Arbitration to decide who will bear the Panama Canal expansion project's $1.6 billion cost overrun, a dispute that temporarily halted work earlier this year, will begin in closed-door sessions in Miami later this month, according to lawyers arguing the matter. On July 21 "both sides will submit their terms and draft procedural orders for how things will work," said Carolyn Lamm, an attorney with White & Case representing the Spanish-led construction consortium. Labor and cost disputes have plagued the effort to expand the 100-year-old canal…

A $180 million claim involving the Panama Canal's disputed $1.6 billion cost overrun is headed to arbitration court in Miami next week, canal officials said on Monday. The $180 million claim by the consortium working on the massive canal expansion project is the first of several disputed construction costs that could end up in the hands of the Miami arbitrators. The cost overrun temporarily halted work on the massive expansion project in February, and the Panama Canal Authority now says the project is on track to open in January 2016.

The Panama Canal Authority expects to formally sign a deal next week with a Spanish-led consortium to finish work on expansion of the waterway after a dispute over cost overruns held up completion, an official said on Friday. "We expect that by Thursday we should be signing said document," Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano told reporters a day after announcing a deal with the GUPC consortium, which is led by Spanish builder Sacyr and Italy's Salini Impregilo. The deal, which was outlined on Thursday…

The consortium working on the extensive Panama Canal expansion has submitted two new claims for cost overruns of almost $740 million, the canal administrator said on Friday. A dispute between the canal and the consortium over cost overruns temporarily halted work on the expansion earlier this year and arguments over the project are now being heard in an arbitration court in Miami. The consortium, Grupo Unidos por el Canal, formed by Spain's Sacyr, Italy's Salini Impregilo, Belgium's Jan de Nul as well as the Panamanian company CUSA, has now presented a total of about $2.3 billion in claims for overruns, said Panama Canal Authority administrator Jorge Quijano. "We're not taking these claims at face value," said Quijano.

Agreement meant to capitalize Canal expansion while attracting new LNG customers. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) signed a cooperation agreement with the Port of Lake Charles in Louisiana earlier this week, which aims to attract new customers from the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry; a strategy that builds upon the advantages that the expanded Canal will offer. Currently, LNG vessels cannot transit through the waterway due to their beam dimensions, which are too wide to fit the existing locks.