Press Room

Panamá. 29 de junio de 2016. – Panamá Ports Company (PPC), empresa líder en el desarrollo operaciones portuarias y de logística, recibió a los representantes de la Autoridad del Canal de Suez y del Consejo de Administración de los Puertos de Sines y Algarve, Portugal, para intercambiar experiencias y realizar un recorrido por las instalaciones del puerto de Balboa.

Durante el trayecto de los representantes de Portugal y Suez, quienes visitaron el país para participar de los actos de inauguración de la ampliación del Canal de Panamá, Peter Cheng, CFO de PPC, acompañó a los visitantes de Portugal, mientras que Raymond Lam, COO de PPC, brindó el recorrido a los representantes del Canal de Suez, mostrando las instalaciones portuarias, consideradas en la actualidad como la terminal de mayor tráfico a nivel nacional, realidad que convierte a la empresa en modelo portuario para otros países de la región.

El presidente de la Autoridad del Canal de Suez, Mohab Mamish, pudo evidenciar el significativo avance de la empresa tras el modelo de negocios que lleva adelante el puerto, con la inversión en equipos y mejoras de sus servicios enfocados en los cambios producto de los esfuerzos tras la ampliación del Canal, así como en la industria en general, a medida que las diversas tecnologías logísticas evolucionan.

En tanto, la visita del Presidente del Consejo de Administración de los Puertos de Sines y Algarve, Portugal, Joao Franco, fue propicia para conocer el interior del puerto; observar la infraestructura y equipos; así como los servicios que ofrecen sus terminales portuarias.

El éxito alcanzado por PPC en operación portuaria, ha sido el resultado de un alto grado de excelencia laboral que la empresa ha impulsado desde sus inicios en el país, lo que no solo le ha posicionado como la empresa número uno de la industria nacional, sino que se apoya, día a día, al concretar la meta de convertir a la República de Panamá en un importante centro logístico internacional, compartieron los directivos de PPC a los invitados internacionales.

On Friday, May 13^th the first half of the rails (tracks) for Line 2 construction of the Panama Subway (El Metro de Panamá) arrived at the Port of Balboa, Panama City, from Immingham, United Kingdom which will be installed by TSO and CIM.  It’s worth mentioning that it is the third rail-unloading operation that has been carried out at the Port of Balboa.  The first was for Line 1 in 2012, and the second was in 2014 for the Extension of Line 1 that ends in San Isidro.

A total of 3,042 rails were unloaded at Port of Balboa, with 162 units earmarked for the extension of the Line 1 Yard and 2,880 units for Line 2 that goes from San Miguelito to Nuevo Tocumen …covering a distance of 50 kilometers.  The entire cargo was successfully unloaded from the vessel Molengracht in 4 days, utilizing 24-hour shifts.  The rails were transported by Jas Forwarding to the two designated sites in Panama City.  We expect to receive the second batch of rails towards the end of this year.

As an additional note, the total weight of the rails was 2,978 tons. 

Panama Ports Company, administrator of the Balboa and Cristobal terminals, has set the goal of establishing continuous improvement mechanisms for the already excellent performance quality of the country’s port labor force, including the signing of an agreement of mutual support with the National Institute of Professional Education and Training for Human Development (Instituto Nacional de Formación Professional y Capacitación para el Desarrollo Humano, INADEH).

This signing officially constitutes the informal alliance that has existed between the two organizations for several years, in which both PPC and INADEH have benefited from mutual facilities for training and evaluation of human resources, specifically with utilization of the Port Equipment Simulation Center (Centro de Simulación de Equipos Portuarios).

The Port Equipment Simulation Center is a project proposed as a viable alternative to improve the technical and attitudinal skills of human resources handling port logistics equipment (through education and training), both for expert and trainee personnel operating high-end machinery.  This training facility began operations in 2012 with an investment of 7.5-million dollars earmarked to provide 12 simulators that, to date, have trained 1,673 world-class technicians in a variety of disciplines (specialties).  Of those, 256 have been from PPC. 

In addition to the use of these facilities, the agreement has permitted INADEH students to be trained in the areas of loading and verification at the ports of Balboa and Cristobal, independent of the company they previously worked for; thus reinforcing PPC’s commitment to raising the technical level of the industry …with a view towards expanding available areas of practice. 

“It’s an honor for us to work with an institution as important as INADEH”, assured Aitor Ibarreche, Executive President of Panama Ports.  “PPC has always said that there is great potential in the country …which continues to be proven.  These types of partnerships allow us to cultivate hidden human-resource skills; offering them the opportunity to become experts in meticulously technical jobs.” 

The training of INADEH students entails an investment of equipment and time on the part of PPC – an investment the company makes with a firm commitment to improving national human resources.  The agreement is another action within their strategy to keep raising the performance bar of Panamanian port work in order to position it among the best in the world.