Caribbean coun­tries are be­ing urged to po­si­tion them­selves to take ad­van­tage of greater trad­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties that may de­rive when the Pana­ma Canal Ex­pan­sion project is com­plet­ed and com­mis­sioned by the first quar­ter of 2016. When it is com­plet­ed, the Pana­ma Canal will be able to fa­cil­i­tate the cross­ing of larg­er ships be­tween the Pa­cif­ic and At­lantic Oceans and as a re­sult there would be need to set up at least two trans­ship­ment points in the Caribbean.

Rodol­fo Sabonge, ex­pert ex­ter­nal ad­vis­er for the US-based man­age­ment con­sult­ing firm, McK­ensey & Com­pa­ny, said there is al­ready com­pe­ti­tion among Caribbean is­lands as to where that trans­ship­ment point should be."It would be where there are oth­er ser­vices and clus­ter ac­tiv­i­ty, maybe in the mar­itime sec­tor that would be able to con­tribute an added val­ue to the ship­ping lines," Sabonge said.

He is en­cour­ag­ing com­pet­ing Caribbean coun­tries to do a very in-depth risk analy­sis to avoid the pit­falls of mak­ing in­vest­ments where there will be no re­al op­por­tu­ni­ties.