Just after midnight today I returned to Panama after two weeks in the US, preceded by two weeks in Chile. I rode to the Amador Causeway which is parallel to the south end of the Panama Canal.
There were no ships going into or coming out of the canal.
None.
I rode to the end of the Causeway, turned around and saw one completely empty container ship headed out into the Pacific Ocean.
Then I went to a coffee shop across from the rail yards at the Balboa container port. Some days I watch huge forklifts zooming along the tracks putting 40-foot containers on rail cars in one smooth move, or unloading a train from the Colon port.
Today, the train sat unattended. Behind the rail yard I saw the huge container cranes of the port. In almost an hour I saw none of the move.
After a month away, I wondered what I would see as I rode along the port.
I saw the effects of the uncertainty of tariffs. Nothing moving.
Is this the master plan for the Canal takeover? Impose tariffs wildly, stop shipping and bankrupt the canal company?
Not likely.
It will be fun to watch how the tariffs affect global shipping, since I have a front-row seat.
