Panama is asked by Hutchison to Negotiate the Continuance of Port Operations
CK Hutchinson threatens Maersk with legal action if it takes over operation of the Cristóbal and Balboa ports.
Panama City: Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings asked the Panamanian government on Thursday to negotiate to continue operating two ports in the Panama Canal and avoid “chaos,” after the courts annulled the concession for both terminals, a company spokesman announced. In January, the Supreme Court declared “unconstitutional” the contract that has authorized Panama Ports Company (PPC), a subsidiary of Hutchison, to manage the ports of Balboa, on the Pacific, and Cristóbal, on the Atlantic, since 1997. Following that court ruling, which came amid pressure from the United States over the Chinese presence in the canal, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino announced that the Danish company Maersk would temporarily operate those terminals.
“We request that there be a dialogue between CK Hutchison and the representatives of the Executive Branch to seek a reasonable solution to this decision by the Court,” said Alejandro Kouruklis, spokesperson for PPC, in an interview on Panama’s Radio Red. “We need specific steps to be able to continue operating, because otherwise, chaos will erupt overnight,” the spokesman warned. Kouruklis maintained that “the company is fully prepared” to “renegotiate absolutely everything.” The ruling has generated uncertainty about the future of the ports, strategically located at the entrances to the canal and through which 38% of the nearly 10 million containers that passed through Panama in 2025 were transported.
Furthermore, the Asian firm threatened Maersk last week with “legal action” if it takes over the administration of the ports without its consent and stated that it will challenge the ruling before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), based in Paris, for causing it “serious damages”. These terminals are part of a global package of ports whose control Hutchison Holdings wants to cede to a group of companies led by the American BlackRock for 22.8 billion dollars. Kouruklis stressed that if the ruling is ultimately carried out, the “inevitable consequences would be a shutdown of the ports,” he said. According to the Supreme Court of Justice, the concession, renewed for 25 years in 2021, was “unconstitutional” and had “a disproportionate bias in favor of the company” that harmed the State.
