Panama Canal expansion has generated 20,470 jobs – few of them are qualified as needed
The maritime industry faces great challenges and one is the lack of trained personnel to fill existing jobs and those generated by the Panama Canal expansion and the construction and upgrading of ports.
“Right now the mega projects such as mining, building the subway line and the Canal expansion have absorbed the low skilled labor that we have and this is a problem for the development of all businesses in the sector,” said Javier Bru, CEO of EMI Marine.
After four years into the canal expansion work, the project has generated 20,470 jobs. According to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), after completing the work, there will be many jobs generated in logistics and transportation activities in the container transshipment ports and shipping agencies.
“Every day it costs more to get qualified personnel for this work. We have mainly to train internally to meet the requirements that companies have,” affirmed the CEO of Panama Ports Company, Lucas Versari.
He emphasizes that in the operational area it is a bit easier, but they are starting to show signs of lack of staff with a clear idea that this is a 24 hour, seven days a week, 365 days a year service industry.
Source: The Panama Bulletin