What to Expect Post Panamax
Next year, the Panama Canal will be able to handle ships carrying up to 14,000 containers (previous max: 4,000), making shipping from Asia to the East Coast totally doable and opening doors for its ports beyond the industrial sector, says Keller Williams’ Diego Leiva. He expects more manufacturing jobs near ports in order to trade on the Made in the USA stamp. We snapped Diego at a recent EisnerAmper event at its 750 Third Ave office. (Despite our suspicion, reports state that Diego isn't the "man" in the palindrome "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!")
Mintz Levin real estate head Jeff Moerdler, who also sits on the Port Authority board of commissioners, says a wider Panama Canal will mean fewer (though larger) vessels, which is great for the environment. At the Port of New York and New Jersey (the third largest in the country and the largest on the East Coast), 1,400 acres are dedicated to container operations, and 5.5 million containers make their way through every year.
