The Panama Canal expansion: New Panamax container vessels and their implications for the basic port infrastructure in the container ports of Ecuador

The expected opening of the enlarged Panama Canal in 2016 and the introduction of the New Panamax container vessel bring in new advantages to global trade. The deployment of more vessel capacity is seen as a driver to reduce transportation costs based on the economies of scale. But this new vessel capacity is also seen as a major challenge for the ports in the region of the West Coast of South America since their basic port infrastructure, comprised of maritime access channel depth and quay wall length, have not been developed accordingly. The aim of this study is to evaluate the introduction of the New Panamax vessel in the container ports of Ecuador and propose some implications to be considered in the short term in order to improve the port system of this country. The theoretical model applied to this study shows that the ideal port capable of handling this type of vessel differs significantly from the actual situation of the ports in Ecuador. In the case of the Port of Guayaquil, the maritime access channel depth is below the average for the region, for this reason it requires urgent attention in order to have at least 14 metres of draught restriction to avoid it becoming an obsolete port upon the opening of the enlarged Panama Canal. In the case of the Port of Esmeraldas and the port of Puerto Bolivar, in addition to the deepening of their maritime access channel, the quay wall length is the variable that will be most affected therefore, expansion projects for the extension of the quay wall should be marked as priority in the to do list of these ports.