Ocean transport carries about 90% of the region's imports and almost 78% of its food, while the Caribbean's Maritime Connectivity Index has fallen over the past 15 years, CARICOM's Curtis said.
White, who leads intermodal for North America at APM Terminals in Mobile, Alabama, said Gulf terminals are positioned to capture growing Asia-to-Latin America trade and US energy exports.
Tom van Eynde of terminal operator TiL Group told TOC Americas in Cartagena that sudden tariff announcements, not tariff levels themselves, trigger costly cargo surges terminals cannot absorb.
Tom van Eynde of TiL Group told TOC Americas the operator is investing more aggressively than ever, leaning on top customer MSC to offset political risk, and building ahead of regulation in Baltimore.
Grupo Puerto de Cartagena expects to move a little more than 5 million containers this year, as Colombia’s port modernisation decree sets investment conditions alongside new performance commitments, Alfonso Salas said.
From Drewry’s volume data to PSA’s focus on culture, five panellists at TOC Americas in Cartagena set out contrasting takes on a trade outlook that keeps shifting beneath them.
Henry Ziemer of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies warned that Washington’s expectations for US ownership of Panama’s next port tenders could do more damage than the financing costs worrying the panel.
Giovanni Benedetti of Grupo Puerto de Cartagena told TOC Americas that tariff-driven swings in Brazilian transhipment and Colombian exports to Ecuador reversed within weeks, leaving no lasting pattern.
Nicolas Romero, head of Latin America for Pacific International Lines (PIL), told TOC Americas that disruption has become shipping's new normal, and that flexible fleets and terminals will profit from it.