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Special Report

Panama Canal mulls reviving Corozal project to allay Hutchison deal concerns

By Keith Wallis

The Panama Canal Authority( ACP) could build and operate a long-stalled container terminal as part of a wider logistics hub near Panama City on the Atlantic Ocean side of the canal, according to the authority’ s top executive.

ACP Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez Morales told the Journal of Commerce the move would help allay ocean carrier concerns that the canal’ s existing container terminals are concentrated among a handful of operators, thus affecting the canal’ s neutrality and competitiveness.

ACP wants the 5 million-TEU Corozal Container Terminal to be a common-user facility, open to all container lines.

“ We are studying the possibility of reactivating a project where the Panama Canal Authority would develop a logistics hub, which would include various terminals, within the canal area that safeguards neutrality for the canal and all of the shipping companies navigating the waterway,” Vásquez said.

Worries about market dominance have emerged since Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison agreed to a $ 23 billion preliminary deal in March to sell its global port interests outside China to a consortium of BlackRock and Terminal Investment Limited( TiL).

A division of Mediterranean Shipping Co.( MSC), TiL already has a presence in Panama’ s terminals sector through its partnership with investment company Notarc Management Group( NMG) to develop the $ 1.4 billion Panama Colón Container Port( PCCP). TiL / NMG took over the project in 2022 after the Panama Maritime Authority canceled an earlier agreement with a Chinese consortium led by Hong Kong / China shipping and port group Landbridge for alleged non-compliance.

“ To be clear, the concessions made to port operators, including that of Panama Ports Co. owned by Hutchinson, lie fully in the hands of the Panamanian government and are not within the purview of the Panama Canal Authority,” Vasquez said.“ However, we are aware of the concerns surrounding a capacity concentration that our shipping clients anticipate with the current proposal on the table.”

Political intrigue

The Corozal project has been in abeyance since 2017, after the four operators ACP selected, which included APM Terminals, PSA International and CMA CGM’ s Terminal Line, declined to submit bids to build and operate the terminal, according to then-ACP Administrator Jorge Quijano.

18 Journal of Commerce | July 7, 2025 www. joc. com