International transportation in Panama loses US$ 200 million a day due to protests

The Logistics Business Council (Coel) of Panama estimated this Monday in US$ 200 million daily losses in the sector international transport due to road closures within the framework of the wave of protests against a controversial mining contract, which this Monday enters its fourth week.

“Our future depends on our ability to facilitate the transit of global merchandise, not only would we be losing the entrepreneurs who work in that, especially micro and medium-sized companies, but we are talking about more than half of Panamanian families”said the president of Coel, Hugo Torrijos, at a press conference.

In a statement, that logistics union indicated that “These losses are already translating into job instability, an increase in unemployment, and a shortage of inputs for all our fellow citizens” and “in the international transportation of goods, daily losses valued at about US$200 million are estimated”.

The document points out that Panama is “recognized as the Logistics Hub (center) worldwide and unfortunately it is being greatly harmed by the closure of land routes.”

According to complaints, these closures “They prevent the transit of import cargo, export cargo to and from Central America, as well as cargo that connects by air.”

They refer to the road blockades that Panama has been experiencing for more than 20 days in the context of a wave of massive protests against the contract that renews the concession to Minera Panamá, a subsidiary of the Canadian First Quantum Minerals (FQM), to exploit the largest open pit copper mine in Central America, which has unleashed a severe internal crisis.

This situation has left long lines of cargo transport trucks on the Pan-American highway, the most important highway that crosses the country from north to south and connects it with the rest of Central America.

As a result of these road blockades, there are also shortages of food, fuel, gas and medicines in some cities in the country, a situation that the Panamanian Government has tried to alleviate by importing gasoline and diesel from Costa Rica.

Entrepreneurs in the logistics sector regretted that “What it has cost us so many years to achieve, that prestige of the Panama brand in the world, is collapsing” and? “A good part” of its members are microentrepreneurs “dedicated to land transportation and their families depend on the income” diaries.

This, in his opinion, is a reality similar to that “they have the thousands of customs brokers and all the other professionals affected.”

The logistics sector is one of the strongest pillars of the Panamanian economy, hosting the Panama Canal through which the 3% of world trade.

“Panama is a country of transshipment and import (…) every second and minute the port and logistics system continues to be overloaded and delayed”Torrijos emphasized.

US$ 1.5 billion in losses to the economy

The businessmen in the logistics sector insisted in the document that the blockades on highways, such as the Panamericana, in protest of that mining contract, “and growing intolerance have unleashed incalculable losses”.

However, the president of Coel declared that “It can easily be calculated that the losses in these 23 days range between one trillion (one billion) dollars and 1.5 (US$1.5 billion) in the entire Panamanian economy”.

According to that sector, “the protests, the barricades on the Panamericana, the lives taken before their time are scars that we now carry as a country” and “These are not just million-dollar losses, they are losses of hope, security and confidence in a better tomorrow.”

They further allege that the losses “They are not only financial in nature, but also affect the physical, mental, and emotional health of our citizens.”