Pres. Obama at Jaxport, July 2013

Obama said he had acted in Congress last year to speed up on the process of new port projects, especially in the Gulf of Mexico.

US President Barack Obama says the country’s ports will have to ready to handle larger vessels that will transit the expanded Panama Canal or risk losing business.

President Obama was visiting the port of Jackonsville and the TraPac terminal operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, along with US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx last week.

“In a couple of years, new supertankers are going to start coming through the Panama Canal. Those supertankers can hold three times the amount of cargo. We want those supertankers coming here to Jacksonville,” Obama said in a speech at the Jacksonville port terminal building.

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