By STEVE BINDER
Illinois Correspondent

GRIGGSVILLE, Ill. — Soybean farmer Phil Bradshaw is a strong supporter of Panama’s $5.25 billion plan to expand the Panama Canal, but he fears some U.S. ports may not be ready to handle the bigger ships that will come our way starting in 2014.

A past president of the United Soybean Board (USB), Bradshaw was on hand with members of the American Soybean Assoc. (ASA) last week for the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Panama Canal Authority and the Soy Transportation Coalition (STC).

The deal calls on the two groups to work together on initiatives regarding marketing, market studies and sharing information as improvements to the Panama Canal continue. The MOU was signed by Alberto Aleman Zubieta, administrator/CEO for the Panama Canal Authority and Ed Ulch, STC chair and a soybean farmer from Solon, Iowa, at an event in Washington, D.C.
ASA Chair Rob Joslin, a soybean producer from Sidney, Ohio, welcomed Aleman and the Panamanian officials and stressed the importance of the canal in the export of U.S. soybeans.

“The record levels of soybean exports we are experiencing surely would not be possible without the vital link that the canal provides,” Joslin said.
“While trade markets and exports are going well for U.S. soybean farmers today, we recognize that we have to continually look for ways to improve our competitiveness, or else we will be overtaken by our competitors in the global marketplace.”

Part of Bradshaw’s concern is shared by port managers, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The DOT last week announced a 12-month study of road and rail improvements needed to handle the larger ships planned to flow through the Panama Canal once the project is completed in 2014.

“We’ll be moving so much more product once that is done, we have to be ready to take advantage of it,” Bradshaw said.

“And right now our ports, roads and rail system aren’t ready to handle it.”
Panamax ships are the largest now that can maneuver through the two-channel system of locks and dams that make up the canal. They are limited in size to about two-thirds of a football field wide and three football fields long. They can carry up to about 5,000 20-foot containers of product.
When the new, third passageway with larger locks is finished, the post-Panamax ship (about 30 percent larger in size) will be able to transit the canal with up to 14,000 containers.

“Brazil is already ready to utilize a larger Panama Canal because they do have ports that will handle these larger ships,” Bradshaw said.
“We don’t want to start losing market share to our competitors. No one has all of the answers right now, because we’re talking about billions in improvements we have to make, but we have to get moving now on it.”

Only one U.S. port is deep enough to handle the biggest ships: Norfolk, the East Coast’s principal port. Plans exist to deepen and improve ports in Miami and Savannah.

“Put simply, the United States needs to modernize our infrastructure and ensure that we are positioned to compete down the road,” Joslin added. “As the policy arm of the U.S. soybean industry, the American Soybean Association will continue to work with policymakers to address our current and future transportation modernization infrastructure needs.

“This includes our ports and inland waterways, as well as our rail industry and highways.”

Bradshaw’s group is funding a study regarding needed improvements, and the USB plans to release those results in August.

Begun in 2007, following the approval by more than 70 percent of Panamanian voters, the canal project is expected to double the passageway’s traffic. The canal now handles about 5 percent of all world trade. With higher transit fees, jobs created and other economic impact factors, Panamanian leaders predicted a year ago the country’s poverty rate could drop from its current 38 percent to below 10 percent by 2015, according to the canal authority.