eNews • September 2014
Promoting a Cost-Effective, Reliable and Competitive Transportation System

Soy Transportation Coalition Officials Participate in 100th Anniversary Celebration of Panama Canal

On August 13-16, Pat Knouff, a soybean farmer from Minster, Ohio, and chairman of the Soy Transportation Coalition, and Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, traveled to Panama to participate in the 100th anniversary celebration of the Panama Canal. While in Panama, Pat and Mike toured the canal expansion site and received a progress update on the construction project.

"Each year approximately 600 million bushels of U.S. soybeans transit the Panama Canal en route to our international customers," says Knouff. "We anticipate that this important link in our logistics chain will become even more significant following the completion of the canal expansion.”

The Panama Canal Authority predicts that the expansion project will be completed by December 2015. Many believe that the expanded canal will be open to traffic in early 2016. “Even though the expansion project has incurred a number of delays and there is a disputed cost overrun between the Panama Canal Authority and the contractors, I think it is still laudable that so much work on such an expensive and expansive project has been achieved in only seven years,” explains Steenhoek. Work on the expansion project first started in the fall of 2007. The original goal was to have the expanded canal completed by August 15, 2014 - the 100th anniversary of the inaugural transit of the original canal.

Steenhoek continues, “We have examples of lock and dam projects in the United States that have experienced much longer delays and cost overruns. I think the country that built the Panama Canal has a lot to learn from the country that owns and operates the Panama Canal. The Panamanians understand the connection between transportation infrastructure and a healthy economy. Here is a country with only 3.6 million people with a major artery of global commerce running through it. So much of the country’s GDP is provided by revenue from the canal. In the U.S., we too often only consider transportation infrastructure when it experiences a major failure, like a bridge collapse. We fail to conduct regular maintenance of these important assets in order to extend the useful life of them. The Panamanians have done a good job of taking care of the canal. They plan on continuing to utilize the current canal for a long time - even after the expanded canal is complete.”

In 2011, the Soy Transportation Coalition and the Panama Canal Authority signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to perform joint promotional events and exchange information in the effort to raise awareness of the Panama Canal expansion and its potential impact on U.S. agriculture. At the time, while the Panama Canal Authority had signed MOUs with numerous port authorities - both U.S. and international - the agreement with the Soy Transportation Coalition was the first signed with an organization representing a commodity or product that utilizes the canal.

The Soy Transportation Coalition commissioned some analysis a few years ago on the impact of the Panama Canal expansion project on U.S. agriculture. Based on our research, we believe one of the immediate beneficiaries of the expansion will be bulk commodities, like agricultural products. Our analysis highlights how the expansion will allow vessels at southern Louisiana export terminals - along the Mississippi River - to be loaded with an additional 500,000 bushels of soybeans, which equates to $6-7 million in additional value per vessel. A customer of U.S. soybeans in Asia could save 35 cents per bushel simply due to greater transportation efficiency resulting from the Panama Canal expansion.


The Soy Transportation Coalition is comprised of thirteen state soybean boards, the American Soybean Association, and the United Soybean Board. The National Grain and Feed Association and the National Oilseed Processors Association serve as ex-officio members of the organization.

Soy Transportation Coalition
1255 SW Prairie Trail Pkwy., Ankeny, Iowa 50023
Phone: (515) 727-0665 Fax (515) 251-8657
Email msteenhoek@soytransportation.org
Web www.soytransportation.org

Funded by the Soybean Checkoff