Varela  offers $500,000 incentive  to cruise ships

The  Tourism Authority of Panama (ATP) will pay the cost of the toll for cruise ships that transit through the Panama Canal and whose passengers embark at the Amador cruise port on the Pacific coast.

The announcement came from outgoing President  Varela,  during the ceremonies at the send-off to China of the first 31,000 tons of treated copper ore from Donosco. He said that the toll has a cost of approximately $500,000 but the passengers of these cruises will visit in Panama and represent approximately $6 million and $7 million.

The work in the Amador cruise terminal should be completed in  October and represents an investment of $165 million.

The del Pacífico consortium, building the terminal is made up of the Belgian company Jan De Nul and China Harbor Engineering Company Limited.

The consortium has already completed the filling for the construction of the building, the driving of piles and the placement of the footbridges.

The port will have the capacity to receive two cruises simultaneously.

According to Varela, the first cruise itinerary of the  Norwegian Cruise company, which will begin operations in 2020 in the port of Amador, has already been received in Panama.