Panama City, Panama, March 27, 2017 – A delegation of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), including members of its Board of Directors and administration, will meet in Shanghai, China, on March 28 and 29 for its annual joint meeting with the ACP Advisory Board.

Since 2000, the Advisory Board meets once or twice a year, alternately in Panama or in a city linked to the maritime industry. This occasionally coincides with the place of residence of Advisory Board members, who offer their insights and experience ad honorem.

This will mark the second joint meeting following the inauguration of the Expanded Panama Canal in June 2016. The first meeting was held on June 27-28, 2016 in Panama.

The Canal Advisory Board is an entity that was formally established in the Organic Law of 1997 to serve as a consultative body for the Canal. The Board provides guidance and recommendations to the Board of Directors and the Canal Administration.

The Advisory Board is composed of distinguished professionals and experts with broad experience in the business world and the Panama Canal in particular. Their expertise integrates knowledge of the world’s transportation, trade, business, telecommunications, construction and development, academia and the banking sector.

As part of the agenda, the Advisory Board will analyze the Canal’s performance after the opening of the Expansion and its impact on world maritime trade, as well as review future strategic projects.

During this trip, the ACP Board of Directors will also meet with COSCO Shipping Lines President Xu Lirong and his staff to discuss important issues in the maritime industry and the service the Panama Canal provides. This company was created by the merger of China’s two largest shipping lines-COSCO and China Shipping Container Lines-at the end of 2015, and it ranks fifth in the list of Panama Canal customers.

The Advisory Board of the Panama Canal is composed of:

  1. William A. O’Neil, Chairman of the Advisory Board, Secretary-General Emeritus of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and President of Videotel Marine International;
  2. Gerhard Kurz, industry advisor for Avista Capital Partners, SPADAC Director and former President and CEO of Seabulk International, Inc.;
  3. Philip A. Embiricos, Director of Embiricos Shipbrokers;
  4. C.C. Tung, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL);
  5. Andronico Luksic Craig, Vice President of Banco de Chile; Koji Miyahara, Chairman Corporate Officer
  6. Joe R. Reeder, partner of Greenberg Traurig LLP (attorneys at law);
  7. Tommy Thomsen, Managing Director of the Industrialization Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) and the Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe (IØ);
  8. Flemming R. Jacobs, Partner and Chairman of Econships Ltd. and former President and CEO of Neptune Orient Lines;
  9. Salvador A. Jurado, President of Building Components Group;
  10. Albert H. Nahmad, Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of Watsco, Inc.;
  11. Admiral William J. Flanagan, US Navy (Ret), previous Commander In Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet and NATO’s Commander-In-Chief, Western Atlantic, and President of Caledonia Partners, Inc.
  12. Dr. Ernst G. Frankel, Professor Emeritus of Ocean Systems and Professor of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  13. Mikio Sasaki, Former Chairman of the Board of Mitsubishi Corporation;
  14. Koji Miyahara, Chairman Corporate Officer, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line);
  15. Wan Min, Member of the Board of Directors, President and Under Secretary of China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited.
  16. Alberto Aleman Zubieta, President of ABCO Global Inc., and former Administrator of the Panama Canal Authority.
About the Panama Canal Authority
The Panama Canal is run by an autonomous agency of the Government of Panama in charge of managing, operating and maintaining the Panama Canal. The operation of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is based on its organic law and the regulations approved by its Board of Directors. For more information, please refer to the ACP’s website: http://www.pancanal.com or follow us on Twitter @thepanamacanal.

About the Panama Canal Expansion
The Panama Canal Expansion is the largest enhancement project since the Canal’s opening in 1914. Considered and analyzed for a decade with more than 100 studies, the Expanded Canal provides the world’s shippers, retailers, manufacturers and consumers with greater shipping options, better maritime service, enhanced logistics and supply-chain reliability. The Expansion included the construction of a new set of locks on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the waterway, creating a third lane of traffic and doubling the cargo capacity of the waterway. While the expanded locks are 70 feet wider and 18 feet deeper than those in the original Canal, they use less water due to water-savings basins that recycle 60 percent of the water used per transit. In line with its commitment to customer service, the Panama Canal will continue to provide the world with value for another century and beyond.