Supply Chain Research

The Panama Canal has continued to see growth in traffic, with a 6.5% rise in transits of the canal in November compared to a year earlier. That included a 21.2% surge in crossings by larger Neopanamax vessels. The growth suggests that the U.S.-China trade war has not had an effect on vessel routings, though a 2.4% slide in imports from eight Asian countries to the U.S. east coast suggests that the volume of traffic crossing the canal may have fallen. The phase 1 trade deal between the U.S. and China should help normalize traffic patterns going into 2020.