The new one-stop shop presented by Panama's maritime authorities will allow ships arriving at the country's ports and crossing the interoceanic canal to save more than 3.200 hours a year, as it simplifies bureaucracy and speeds up loading and unloading operations.
"Until now, the ship arrived at the port and had to wait for technicians from different entities to come to begin the paperwork and could not move any containers. The idea now is that the ship arrives at the port and can immediately begin moving cargo," explained the route manager, Jorge Luis Quijano, on Monday (20.09.2017).
The application, called Panama Maritime Single Window (VUMPA) will also save around 400.000 paper documents per year, digitize information on maritime traffic and help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, since ships will spend less time in ports.
Quijano acknowledged to reporters that the launch of this window was a debt owed to the maritime industry, and said that "we are not inventing anything, what we are doing is catching up with world-class ports."
The VUMPA, which It will be operational on September 24th., was developed jointly by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) and the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) and had a cost close to 2 million dollars.
The application currently covers 80% of the country's ports and allows you to carry out procedures from different institutions such as the National Customs Authority, the National Immigration Service, the Panamanian Food Safety Authority, the Ministry of Agricultural Development, among others, explained Quijano.
Panama plays an important role in global shipping, mainly due to the interoceanic canal, through which nearly 6% of international trade passes and connects more than 140 maritime routes and 1.700 ports in 160 different countries.
Since the new locks were opened in June 2016, an average of 5,9 Neopanamax ships have passed through them every day, vessels that have three times the loading capacity of those that use the century-old waterway.
Panama is also the country with the largest merchant marine in the world. In 2016, according to data from the AMP, it accounted for 18% of the world fleet and registered a total of 8.094 vessels and 226,6 million tons.
Source: Reuters
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