Panama ports dispute escalates

A Hong Kong port operator and a Danish shipping giant are now fighting in London over two terminals at the mouth of the Panama Canal, after Panama stripped CK Hutchison’s local unit of the right to run Balboa and Cristóbal. Panama Ports Company says Maersk helped line up its removal and tried to steer the business to a Maersk-linked operator. (bloomberg.com, globaltrademag.com) The case is not in Panama. It is in London arbitration, and CK Hutchison says it is separate from a damages claim of more than $2 billion against the Panamanian government over the same ports. (bloomberg.com, apnews.com) Those two ports matter because they sit on opposite ends of the canal system: Balboa on the Pacific side and Cristóbal on the Atlantic side. They are not the canal locks themselves, but they are the loading yards and transfer points that keep cargo moving around the canal like train stations at both ends of a tunnel. (apnews.com, (apmterminals.com)) CK Hutchison’s Panama unit had run those terminals since 1997 under a concession approved by Panamanian law. In January 2026, Panama’s Supreme Court voided the legal framework behind that contract, including a 2021 extension for another 25 years. (ticotimes.net), (msn.com)) After that ruling became final in February, Panama moved in and took control of the terminals to keep them operating. President José Raúl Mulino’s government then said APM Terminals, which is part of the A.P. Moller-Maersk group, was willing to step in as a temporary operator. (maritime-executive.com), (apmterminals.com)) That is the link at the center of the dispute. Panama Ports Company says Maersk was not just a possible replacement after the court ruling, but part of a plan to push it out of Balboa in the first place. (globaltrademag.com, splash247.com) The fight did not stay commercial for long. On April 9, 2026, Panama’s foreign minister accused China of increasing inspections of Panama-flagged ships, and President Mulino said the country did not want a confrontation with Beijing. (straitstimes.com, infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com) China’s pressure appears tied to the loss of CK Hutchison’s concessions, because CK Hutchison is one of Hong Kong’s biggest conglomerates and Beijing has treated the Panama port change as more than a local contract dispute. Lloyd’s List reported in March that Chinese authorities had summoned executives from Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Company as the row deepened. (lloydslist.com, straitstimes.com) That is why shipping companies are now watching lawyers and diplomats, not just port cranes and canal queues. A route that looked risky only when drought cut canal slots now carries a second kind of risk: a vessel can clear the waterway and still get caught in inspections, court orders, or a change in who is allowed to run the dock at either end. (infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, lloydslist.com) For now, containers are still moving through Balboa and Cristóbal. But the map around the canal now has three layers at once: Panama’s court ruling, CK Hutchison’s London arbitration, and China’s response to Panama-flagged ships. (bloomberg.com, infra.economictimes.indiatimes.com, (maritime-executive.com))