Happy Thursday! Sorry we have been away so long; we will be posting back on the regular schedule starting today. We’ll post the EIA information tomorrow as usual!
We went to the rescheduled Greater Houston Port Bureau (GHPB) Commerce
Club Luncheon at the Houston Marriot South at Hobby Airport today.
The speaker was Ambassador Juan
B. Sosa, he is the President of the U.S. -Panama Business Council and he is the
Consul General of Panama in Houston since 2014.
In 1994, Ambassador Sosa with other important trail blazers started the U.S.- Panama Business Council which is
a business organization with international members who spearheaded the U.S.-Panama
Free Trade Agreement. This important
business organization has been involved in programs and trade missions which
have helped strengthen Panama’s ties to Houston and Texas as well as the Houston
Ship Channel. Houston has benefitted by they have helped us to become the #1 global city in GDP to exports.
Ambassador Sosa spoke on the
history of Panama and the establishment of the Panama Canal. Ambassador Sosa told the story of origins of the
canal including the special mail ship from the East Coast which brought mail to
the West Coast with a stop in New Orleans in 1848. The discovery of gold on the West Coast brought
the 49ers which many travelers traveled on this mail ship. The travelers would then travel across by Panama
by mule and get on a steamer ship bound for the West Coast of the U.S. The
first train line in 1856 connected Houston to New Orleans which then travelers
boarded ships to Panama bound for the West Coast. In the 1880s, France tried to develop a canal
connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, nonetheless they failed and went bankrupt.
President Teddy Rosevelt and his administration saw the importance of building
a canal and signed a treaty in 1903 with Panama and its newly established government.
This was the beginning of the original locks which were 110 feet wide by 1000
feet long and completed and started operation around 1914. The canal made a difference in both World
Wars. Ambassador Sosa spoke about the 2nd
set of locks which were approved in 2006 and completed in 2016. This important waterway has made a difference
in today’s global economy. He briefly
spoke about the upcoming changes to the canal and the lessons learned with the
last El Nino season and the drought it brought.
Thank you, Ambassador Sosa! You are an interesting and informative
speaker, and we wish you much success with your latest trade mission with the U.S.-Panama
Business Council!
As you see the speakers at the GHPB’s
Commerce Club Luncheons bring an informative talk to all that
attend. The next Commerce Club
Luncheon is September 12, 2024, at 11 a.m.
The speakers will be having a Brownwater/Bluewater discussion, and the speakers
will be Nathan Hough/Campbell Transportation, Captain Clint Winegar/Houston
Pilots and Alberto Hernandez II/Vessel Traffic Service. We hope to see you there! Please check out the website, if you would
like to learn more. September 2024 Commerce Club Luncheon - Greater Houston Port Bureau (txgulf.org).
Check out our previous blogs on
the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal
Authority has released some exciting news the last few months and we give you
some basic information and links of it!
If you would like help in
figuring out how to get your product moving with less of a carbon footprint,
contact us via email on the blog or give us a call: 281-901-5554. Check out our ESC's website!