INCOME from ships transiting the Canal and the movement of cargos in the country’s ports  dropped from January to September 2016.

 The figures in  the report of the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) are in contrast to the report of the Canal Authority (ACP) which registered the third highest annual tonnage of its history in fiscal year 2016, (October 12015 to September 30 2016) when  13,114  ships, including  238 Post Panamax .passed through.

'Despite the deceleration of the international maritime trade during last year, we have registered one of the highest annual tonnages since the opening of the original canal 102 years ago', said ACP administrator Jorge Luis Quijano in Oct.

“This reinforces the continuous strategic importance of the route and the increasing value that recent investments in the Canal will bring to the maritime industry”, he said.

Despite that success, the  INEC report  says that , in the first nine months of the year, there was a fall of 6.6 percent in the transits compared to the same period of 2015, and the volume of the cargoes fell proportionately.

of the Business Section of Panama ON, and Publisher of Panama Business News.

From  January-September, revenues from tolls in the Channel were $1,427 760 000, 3.7 percent less than a similar period the previous year, while merchandise transferred was 3.3 percent points less, according to INEC.

The situation was most critical for the national ports system that saw a cut by 12,380.000 in  the report of the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC)  metric tons handled, mainly containers and bulk cargo.