Panama Ports News

The Panama Canal is a strategic crossroads for maritime traffic, and is arguably one of the most important maritime developments in the past century. Here we take a deeper dive into the history behind that famous strip of waterway.The present canal, which saw its first vessel transits in 1914, along with possible alternatives through Nicaragua and Mexico, had actually been on the minds of merchants, explorers and military/political strategists since the Age of Exploration in early 1500’s.

The Christian welfare charity serving merchant crews around the world 'The Mission to Seafarers' has signed an agreement with the Panama Maritime Authority for the provision of seafarer welfare services, making us the first seafarer charity to operate in Panama.A press release from the international seafarer welfare charity said that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Mission and Panama was signed yesterday by the Revd Canon Andrew Wright, Secretary General of The Mission to Seafarers, and Jorge Barakat Pitty, Minister of Maritime Affairs and Administrator of the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP).The signing ceremony took…

Terex Port Solutions (TPS) has received an order to supply two Terex ship-to-shore cranes (STS) to Tanzania International Container Terminal Services (TICTS), a member of Hutchison Port Holdings Limited (HPH), a leading port investor, developer and operator. The double-box boom structure STS will be manufactured at TPS’ site in Xiamen, PR China, and the machines are due to be commissioned by the end of 2016. New STS will help TICTS to increase handling rates further TICTS, situated in the capital Dar es Salaam, is Tanzania’s largest container terminal. As TICTS is the major logistics gateway to Eastern, Central and Southern Africa, it must meet the challenge of constantly increasing handling rates.

The National Customs Authority (ANA) is keeping on the table its proposal to establish a fee for the use of X-ray equipment for cargo. But it has not yet defined the amount of the fee, says a 'The Bulletin Panam' report. Since early this year the ANA, in conjunction with the Panama Chamber of Shipping (CMP) have been meeting to discuss the proposal of charging for this service, but the chamber’s position has always been that this is a national security issue and should be absorbed by the state. In the recent past, Maersk Line made a statement on the Government’s intention to establish this charge, pointing out that such a charge would diminish competition in Panama at a time when many ports in the region are investing heavily to position themselves as transshipment “hubs” before 2014.

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Container traffic handled by Panama ports rose 7.2 percent in 2000 to 1,359,640 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) said on Thursday. During 2000, cargo tonnage handled by Panamanian ports rose 7.0 percent over the year ago period to 20.65 million ton, provisional figures compiled by the AMP showed. Growth was led by the Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT), a container port on the Atlantic coast approaches to the Panama Canal, which shifted 1.01 million TEUs to note a hefty 17.4 percent rise on 1999. The port, a joint venture by Stevedoring Services America and local partners, completed phase three of a $300 million expansion program last year to extend the facility's waterfront and storage capacity.

Boskalis extends container port at Panama Canal entrance Dredging company Royal Boskalis Westminster has won a contract for the extension of the container port of Balboa, Panama, at the Pacific mouth of the Panama Canal. The work is expected to be completed in 15 months. The contract is worth approximately $67.1m. The project will be executed for Panama Ports Company S.A., a member of the Hutchison Port Holding Group of Hong Kong. The work includes the construction of additional port area, a retaining rock dike and a link structure to the existing berths 16 and 17. Boskalis will deploy its American trailing suction hopper Stuyvesant, a large backhoe and a few transport barges for this job. The civil works will be executed by the Panamanian partner Intercoastal Marine Inc.

Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. rejected allegations made by a U.S. senator that it controlled both ends of the Panama Canal, saying it had no influence over the canal’s operation or shipping traffic. “What has been alleged about is totally untrue and unfounded,” said Nora Yong, spokeswoman for Hutchison Port Holdings. The Hong Kong-based company also denied the senator’s allegations it was connected to China’s military. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, last week released a letter sent Aug. 1 to U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen complaining that Hutchison’s operation of container ports at each end of the canal was a security threat and a sign of China’s growing influence over the strategically important waterway.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter symbolically placed the Panama Canal into Panamanian hands last Tuesday with the simple words, "it's yours," granting the tiny Central American nation sovereignty over all its territory for the first time since its birth in 1903. "Today we are gathered in the spirit of mutual respect, acknowledging without question the full sovereignty of Panama," Carter told hundreds of Panamanian and foreign dignitaries gathered under a light rain at the Miraflores Locks at the Canal's Pacific entrance. In what Carter and Panama President Mireya Moscoso called a pivotal moment in the history of the hemisphere, the two leaders signed a symbolic accord marking the Canal's passage to Panama. Under the 1977 Panama Canal Treaties brokered by Carter, the U.S.