How will the P3Alliance affect the Panama Canal?

Van Trooijen was unable to predict whether or not services from Asia–US East Coast via the Panama Canal would be affected. “I don’t know, as it is too early to speculate regarding the impact,” he said.

Maersk’s TP 7 service which covered Asia–US East Coast via the Panama Canal was re-routed via the Suez Canal in mid 2013 due to economies of scale; this led to eight fewer vessels a month transiting the Canal.

The question now being posed is will the P3 alliance also re-route from the Panama Canal to go via Suez? While the question is as yet unanswered, many believe that Canal widening will play an important part in the future decision.