JOC Staff | Mar 20, 2013 4:24PM EDT
Countries in Central America, the Dominican Republic and Belize must “dramatically” improve their intermodal road and port network infrastructure, as well as the quality of their trucking services, and strengthen their institutional coordination, in order to cope with the larger vessels that will transit through the Panama Canal when its expansion is complete in 2015, according to two studies issued by the Inter-American Development Bank.
The first study, “Assessment of Port Performance and Port Connectivity in Belize, Central America and the Dominican Republic,” evaluated port performance and the connectivity of 18 ports in those regions. The second report, “Trucking Services in Belize, Central America and the Dominican Republic: Performance Analysis and Policy Recommendations,” assessed the trucking industry and made recommendations for the future.
The IDB called for Central American countries to establish national logistics agendas to improve policy coordination and tackle bottlenecks that hurt the region’s ability to compete in the global marketplace.