Panamanian Government News

A ship with supplies for Canadian miner First Quantum's unit in Panama was unable to dock as local boats blocked off access to the key port, the company said in a statement to Reuters on Friday.Protests have escalated in recent weeks against the miner's contract for a major copper mine operated by the company's local unit, known as Minera Panama.The ship in question has remained in Panamanian waters for several days without being able to reach the Punta Rincon port due to protests…

Oil company Royal Dutch Shell has signed a three-year contract to lease storage tanks at a large terminal in Panama that had been used by U.S. refining company Tesoro Corp, sources involved in the deal told Reuters. The facility, designed for storage and transshipment of crude oil to tankers, is owned by Petroterminal de Panama (PTP) and includes up to 14 million barrels of storage capacity on the Atlantic and the Pacific shores. "We have signed a contract with Shell for a three-year period involving all the available space we have," said an official from the Panamanian government. The contract still needs final approval by the country's Finance Ministry.   (Reporting by Elida Moreno and Marianna Parraga)

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with major UK ports operator, Peel Ports, who own the Port of Liverpool, as the latter gears up for the formal opening of its Liverpool2 container terminal in early November. The formal agreement creates a strategic alliance aimed at facilitating international trade and generating new business by promoting trade routes between Liverpool and the west coast of South America via the Panama Canal. The agreement was signed October 24 by Jorge L.

Crewmembers of Coast Guard Station Miami Beach, Florida, offloaded 254 kilograms of cocaine and 3,662 pounds of marijuana interdicted in the Caribbean Sea as part of Operation  Martillo worth an estimated wholesale value of $11.8 million, at Base Miami Beach, Friday. On Sept. 3, a maritime patrol aircraft reported a suspicious Panamanian flagged sailing vessel southeast of Nicaragua. Coast Guard Cutter Robert Yered arrived on scene and attempted to contact the vessel. With no response to radio calls, and the vessel not slowing down, the Robert Yered launched its smallboat with a law enforcement team and subsequently boarded the vessel after receiving permission from the Panamanian government.

The world’s largest classification society ClassNK (Chairman & President: Noboru Ueda), announced that the world’s first specialized vessel for the carriage of Nickel Ore has been built and registered to the NK class. The vessel, the Jules Garnier II, was built by Naikai Zosen Corporation and delivered to Japanese shipping major JX Shipping Co. Ltd on 19 September 2012, and is the first vessel in the world to be recognized as a Specially Constructed Cargo Ship for the carriage of Nickel Ore in accordance with the IMO’s IMSBC Code.

Crewmembers from the Coast Guard Cutter Morgenthau, a 378-foot high endurance cutter homeported in Alameda, Calif., continue to ensure the safety and well-being of the passengers and crew aboard the stranded Carnival Cruise Ship Splendor, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010. The cruise ship became disabled after a fire in the engine room, Monday, Nov. 8, 2010. Crews from the Coast Guard cutter have boarded the Splendor, including a health service technician and food service technician, and have found the passengers and crews safe and healthy.

Charles Paul Edward Jumet of Fluvanna County, Va., pleaded guilty on Nov. 13 in connection with his role in a conspiracy to pay bribes to Panamanian government officials to secure a maritime contract, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride, Joseph Persichini Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office, Jennifer Smith Love, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI's Richmond Field Office and James A. Dinkins, Special Agent-in-Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of Investigation, Washington. Jumet, 53, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis W.

Five years since the Panama Canal was handed over to the Panamanian people from the United States, the waterway is running better and safer than ever in its 90 years of operation. Beginning a new century under Panamanian stewardship, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has set and broken records, made significant improvements and invested in the equipment and infrastructure of the waterway. These accomplishments have helped the “All-Water Route” (the route from Asia to America’s East Coast via the Panama Canal – and back) become a very attractive option for the industry to move cargo between these markets. The five-year anniversary of the Handover falls on December 31, 2004.

Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a ceremony and groundbreaking to celebrate the beginning of the first-ever expansion of the nearly 100-year-old waterway. double capacity and allow more traffic and longer, wider ships. Today’s event inaugurates the first construction project of expansion: a dry excavation project on Paraiso Hill that begins the construction of the new Pacific Locks access channel. The new Pacific Locks access channel will ultimately connect the Gaillard Cut to the new Pacific Locks. In a national referendum October 22, 2006, Panamanians voted to expand the Canal, a momentous step that will ultimately secure their future and that of world trade.

More than 600 representatives from 222 companies and 34 countries arrived at Panama City's ATLAPA Convention Center for the Panama Canal Expansion Infoconference 2007. In the standing room only hall and overflow room, attendees awaited day one of the three-day event hosted by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) that will provide new information on all of the elements of expansion, including the bidding and contracting procedures for the project. The informational session included presentations from ACP officials regarding design and construction of the locks, dredging, excavations and contracting processes. ACP Maritime Operations Director…

The voting began on Sunday morning, where the enthusiasm and energy was apparent as each voter played their part in this historic event that determined the direction and future of the Canal and Panama. By law, expansion, or the “third set of locks project,” must be put to a vote in a popular referendum. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) presented its formal proposal to the Panamanian government in April. expansion, as of 9:30 p.m. EDT. “Today, Panamanians made history. Dr. Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, chairman of the ACP’s board of directors and concurrent minister for Canal affairs. “We spent years studying, researching and preparing and we are ready. transparently. and maintain the Canal’s competitive advantage,” Vásquez concluded.

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.

Dubbed "The Greatest Engineering Wonder of the World," the Panama Canal has experienced a whirlwind run since President Woodrow Wilson flicked a switch of the first gushes of water to flow through the 51-mile body of water that is arguably the most important shipping channel in world. It was 1914 and it was as though Central America and Europe — situated at opposite sides of the Atlantic — were worlds apart. For it was in the Central American country of Panama where workers from many nations joined forces to build the massive Panama Canal, while hostilities in Europe were quickly leading to WWI. Together, these workers, who came from all walks of life and all different backgrounds - all shared one dream - to be part of a piece of history that to this day…