A MODEX 2012 keynote about Panama Canal expansion has prompted event organiser Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) to analyse the subject's importance.
Alberto Alemán Zubieta, chief executive officer of the Panama Canal Authority, will give one of three keynote addresses during the 6-9 February MODEX 2012 event in the Georgia World Congress Centre in Atlanta, Georgia.
"The upcoming Panama Canal expansion is much more than just a story of bigger ships and increased trade for East Coast ports," says Gary Forger, MHIA senior vice president of professional development. "It will also have a substantial impact on the US supply chain and its efficiencies."
The authority is lengthening, widening and deepening the locks, allowing the canal to accommodate larger ships. "The largest ships today carry just 5,000 20-foot equivalent units," he says. "When the expansion opens in 2014, that number will jump to as high as 13,000."
Forger outlines the issues including transporting more cargo in fewer trips, bypassing West Coast port congestion and making adjustments in time to market in an industry
update that MHIA circulated on 1 December.
MHIA is completing MODEX 2012 arrangements to accommodate 560 exhibitors in 175,000 sqft. (15,750 sqm) and offer 75 show floor sessions and 28 co-located events from 19 MODEX education partners
(Forkliftaction.com News #531).
MODEX is the new identity for a MHIA trade show with a similar materials handling and logistics profile as the trade group's biennial ProMat show. In addition, MODEX will offer a broad array of technology, services and educational opportunities for the overall supply chain.
Meanwhile, MHIA's 10 November space draw for the ProMat 2013 exhibit attracted 388 exhibitors who reserved a first-day record of 230,000 sqft. (20,700 sqm) of the available 300,000 sqft. (27,000 sqm) of show floor space. The Hyster and Yale brands of Nacco Materials Handling Inc selected the first booths of the draw.
"The success of the ProMat exhibit space draw is a clear indicator that material handling, supply chain and logistics solution providers are seeing positive economic change and bodes very well for both ProMat 2013 and our industry," says George W Prest, MHIA chief operating officer.
MHIA projects that ProMat 2013 will have about 800 exhibitors in the McCormick Place South hall in Chicago, Illinois from 21-24 January, 2013. ProMat and the Automate show and conference of the Automation Technologies Council of Ann Arbor, Michigan will collocate as they did in March 2011.
At MODEX, Prest will preside for the first time as MHIA chief executive officer. Prest was named to succeed John Nofsinger, who plans to retire on 31 December after serving in MHIA's top staff position since 1999.