Panama News Briefs

By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - The Panama Canal continues to be backed up worse than Grandma on a field trip without her Metamucil. And of course it only makes headline news when it effects a ship load of paying cruise line passengers - see the story below about the severely pissed-off passengers on a cruise ship who went through the Panama Canal - at night. The owners of cargo vessels have been waiting a week or more to get their vessels through. The Panama Canal has been severely backed up for weeks with more than 100 vessels waiting in line for more than a week for a chance to go through. What's causing these delays? The Panama Canal has a serious case of "malicious compliance." (more)

We're Going To Lie To You Now, OK? In a press release the ACP pointed to some maintenance work they did back in February as well as some civil disturbances from the striking SUNTRACS construction workers as the root cause of the backlogs and problems they are currently facing. I know from my own personal experience blaming this backlog on the minor maintenance work conducted in February was complete and total bullshit. (And, as a side note - this is why I simply love being my own boss and editor - I get to pick my own words. In this case, I pick "bullshit.") I've seen these kinds of backups in the Panama Canal before - they are usually caused by ten to twelve day long lane outages due to major overhauls on the three sets of locks of the Panama Canal. About three or four times a year the ACP has to schedule major maintenance, and when they do that it always creates a backlog because you have to shut down an entire lane in order to perform maintenance on the doors of the locks, for example.

Work Done, Backlog Gone: Normally, as soon as the work is done and the lanes are back open then any backlog created by the lane outages is cleared out in a matter of two to three days. So, the ACP wants you to believe that they did a little bit of minor and routine maintenance work back in February which resulted in this continuing backlog and crisis which is now entering into its sixth week. I'm sorry, but if that's what's going on then it's a first. In fact, again, somebody please toot the horn while I run the "bullshit" flag up the pole. Something else has to be causing this backup. Now, what could it be you might ask...

Little Nameless Whispering Birds: Let's just say sources within the "Panama Canal work force" who request anonymity continue to consistently repeat rumors of an undeclared work slowdown by canal pilots who want their contract renewed as the real source of the backlog. Maybe the ACP should just give these dudes a good contract to see if it helps the whole backlog thing. I dunno, just a thought...

"Malicious Compliance" I made a few more phone calls before publishing this article to make sure I had it right. The story is not changing one iota. From what I'm now hearing moral among Panama Canal pilot workforce is "abysmal." They have not received a pay increase in years - the only pay raise they've seen recently was a 1.5% pay increase given to all ACP employees sometime last year. And in the meantime the Panama Canal Administration continues to brag (in press releases) about how they have been setting records for the number of ships they have been cramming through, records set in tonnage, and the money they have been making as a business. So, the ACP is getting a whole lot more work out of the pilots, the pilots want more money for their efforts, and the ACP has been telling them to shove off. In short the work force is "exceptionally discontented" at this point in time. The canal pilots continue to work without a contract and they have been working without a contract for years. There is no declared strike - it's much more a growing and spreading attitude among the workforce of "why should I go the extra mile?" So, how is that causing the backlog?

Like A Well Greased Wheel (Or Not) Many people don't realize to what extent getting ships through the Panama Canal is a team effort requiring coordinated efforts from many hundreds of people. And, to a large extent the people who actually apply the grease to all the right places are the Panama Canal pilots. They are all connected via radios. They can see the long term as well as the short term situation. They know what works and what does not. They have been accustomed to "going the extra mile" for years to the point where it's actually part of their culture. Just get the job done, do what needs to be done, and get the ships through. And that was fine as long as they felt like those efforts were appreciated by the top administration of the Panama Canal.

"Go Buy A Smaller Car" Recently the Panama Canal pilots went to the administration of the Panama Canal to ask for wage increases and a new labor contract. They cited increases in fuel costs and general increases in the cost of living as justification. I am told the response from the top administrator of the Panama Canal was (and I quote) "tell them to go buy a smaller car." That response has trickled down through the work force, and they have, individually, adopted a stance of "why should I stick my neck out." They have applied a name to this undeclared strike - "malicious compliance."

"First Class Canal - Third World Attitude" The ACP really likes to tell the world they have a "World Class Organization" but the dirty little secret is that they like to pay their workers third world Panamanian wages. The ACP has been cranking up the tolls with one hand, and cutting costs and wages with the other. Remember, the ACP has to generate as much income as they can to pay for the project to expand the Panama Canal. So now the Panama Canal pilots are (unofficially) sending a message - pay third world wages and you get a third world work force - and the Third World Canal that comes along with it. You pay for a friggin' robot, you get a friggin' robot. "What would you like me to do next, sir?" (And, the ships pile up behind them.)

Can Canal Pilots Strike? Good question. According to the Panamanian constitution all workers in the Republic of Panama have the right to organize and strike. But, the organic law that creates the Panama Canal Administration prohibits the pilot force from going on strike. So, there's the dilemma. I don't think the Panama Canal pilots want to actually go out on a declared strike. I'm going to be following up on this story as long as the backlog continues. Right now there are some 80 to 90 ships still waiting to go through. They were able to clear out a little bit of the backlog thanks to a short period of reduced arrivals. But, as long as this "malicious compliance" action continues, the Panama Canal will continue to be all clogged up.

Head In The Sand: Of course none of this is officially declared by either side. The ACP will deny the whole thing until the cows come home. The pilots will of course say they just want a new contract and that they continue to do their jobs as required. But the real story here is what both sides are not doing. The pilots are not sticking their necks out, taking any risks, or going the extra mile. They are not "supposed" to be the ones who coordinate or choreograph this dance of men and machines called the Panama Canal, but in reality they are the quarterbacks at the helm of the ships as they go through. The ACP will probably hem and haw and point to this scheduling conflict or that increase in traffic - but in reality they have simply disrespected the MVP on their team, and now they are reaping the results of what they themselves have sown.

Copyright 2008 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.

USA Today Article: What follows is the article that appeared in the USA Today about the cruise ship that went through the Panama Canal at night:

• USA Today - When you pay more than $30,000 for a cruise through the Panama Canal, you expect to at least be able to see the canal, if not experience it in depth. But that wasn't the case for passengers on a recent Silversea cruise sold as "the Panama Canal Experience." Britain's Telegraph today reports that the luxury line has apologized to passengers on the 15-day trip for unexpectedly taking them through the canal during the night in total darkness, resulting in them missing what was billed as the highlight of the trip. A Silversea spokesperson told the paper the night crossing of the canal was unplanned and beyond its control. While the ship was scheduled to pass through the canal during daylight hours, Panamanian authorities held it back to make way for larger vessels -- an occurrence that the spokesperson says never has happened to Silversea before or since. The Telegraph quoted a distraught passenger who says he spent about $32,000 for the trip "to fulfill a lifetime ambition to see the engineering marvel that is the Panama Canal." The trip, for him, was ruined. The paper says Silversea offered the passenger a 20% discount on a future cruise as a goodwill gesture. Tell us, Cruise Loggers, have you ever gone a cruise where what was supposed to be the highlight of the trip never took place? How do you think Silversea should have handled this? Photo by AP/Julie Plasencia

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