South America's role on the global logistics stage – and Peru's specifically – will be much more than that of a walk- on player if the San Lorenzo Megaport Project comes into being.
   The $12- billion project, on the island of San Lorenzo in Callao in the Pacific Ocean, would use land reclamation techniques to create the largest port and only megaport in Latin America. The project's significance is not just its proximity to Asia, North America and Oceania. It also calls for a 500- mile (805- km.) railway to the Amazon River, granting access to the Atlantic Ocean and points east.
   The scope of the multimodal San Lorenzo Megaport is enormous. Among its components are a tunnel to the mainland for rail and vehicle traffic, a car and truck terminal, a naval base, recreation and commercial projects, an airport and a 70- m. (300- ft.) deep- sea port for the next generation of container vessels.
   The project, if approved by the Peruvian government, will unfold in four stages over seven years: (1) construction of the hub port, naval base and shipyard facility; an airport, a 3- km. (1.8- m.) breakwater and major land reclamation for commercial development; (2) construction of a system of freeways, roads and parking facilities; (3) construction of tunnels, bridges, high- speed railroads for the creation of the bi- oceanic corridor from San Lorenzo Island in the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean via the Amazon River; and (4) implementation of various infrastructure types, including water and drainage systems, energy, lighting and communications systems; and construction of river transportation systems.
   How this project will affect modernization and expansion work already under way at Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport remains to be seen. Lima Airport Partners, a consortium that includes construction and engineering giant Bechtel, is in the midst of a $1.2- billion project that involves a second runway, a new terminal and air cargo facilities, among other components.    Miami and the state of Florida remain central to South and Central America's air cargo capabilities with respect to North America and other destinations. Michael Maynard, aviation project manager at Wilbur Smith Associates, Cincinnati, is working on an air cargo system plan for Florida to see how that state can maximize its air cargo assets.
   "Miami is the largest perishables market airport in the U.S. with about 80 percent of all perishables brought into the U.S. from Latin America going there," says Maynard, citing daily shipments of fresh flowers, fish and other products. "It's also the gateway for American exports of consumer goods going to South America." Other airports are trying to capture some of Miami's perishables market, but are having a tough go of it, he adds. Toledo Express Airport in Ohio, for example, recently approved development of a perishables center so carriers can bypass Miami.
   "Orlando, Florida, tried doing something similar, and that facility is currently being used to store aircraft parts," Maynard points out.
   Meanwhile, Panama's logistics attributes, mainly the Panama Canal, are augmented by Tocumen International Airport, where the original passenger facilities are being converted to cargo use.
   "Tocumen is the best air cargo airport in Central America, and it's a hub for DHL," says Michael Webber, principal of MMW Consulting in Prairie Village, Kan., who specializes in airports and air cargo operations. "It has two runways, which provides a degree of comfort to cargo operators in the event one is closed for maintenance," he says. "Tocumen is probably overbuilt, but to the benefit of the local populace. It's a far superior airfield than what you would expect from a market that size."
   Webber says Panama itself offers more than one might expect as well.
   "Panama is a perfect example of a place that exists because of logistics," he says, "Because of that, Panama has a lot of services that some people leave out of the economic development equation, such as international banking freight forwarders and other services."