The Galveston Wharves Port Director and CEO Rodger Rees attended the recent trade mission organized by the U.S.-Panama Business Council on June 13-14, which allowed high-level Panamanian government, business, and canal leaders to meet with the Texas delegation to discuss current opportunities and the global outlook, according to a press release.

The Panama Canal is a major shipping route for cargo and cruise ships calling on the port of Galveston, according to a press release, and the cruise industry is expanding in the Panama area, with cruise ports at the canal's Caribbean entrance in Colon and on the Pacific side near Panama City creating new opportunities, according to Galveston.

“As the only cruise port in Texas, I was interested in learning how Galveston’s cruise industry could benefit from Panama’s growth as a homeport and port of call,” Rees said during the trade mission. “Some of the major cruise lines that homeport in Galveston already transit through the Panama Canal. With the second cruise terminal in Panama opening this year on the Pacific side, could cruise lines homeporting there consider Galveston as a port of call?”