The agency that runs the Panama Canal is “moving fast” to pre-qualify bidders to build two new container terminals, with one-on-one meetings involving potential operators set for the first week of December, its chief administrator has said, amid the stalled sale of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison’s stakes in two existing ports.
Panama Canal Authority administrator Ricaurte Vasquez stressed on Friday at a maritime conference in the United States that the new, board-led process “eliminates the possibility of political influences”, a pointed declaration that aimed to separate the US$2.6 billion project from geopolitical frictions that stalled a previous port deal.
The new US$2.6 billion plan is for two new container terminals, Corozal on the Pacific side and Telfers on the Atlantic, at either end of the strategic waterway.
A consultation that began on October 27 preceding the new December meetings was the first step in a formal process that the authority expects to end with the selection of a concessionaire in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Without naming any bidders, the new ports plan proceeded while a separate sale of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings’ existing port stakes remained stalled amid broader frictions between the United States and China. CK Hutchison was seeking to sell its stakes in 43 terminals worldwide in a US$22.8 billion deal that included two at the canal.
“We are having one-on-one meetings with terminal operators and shipping clients probably in the first week of December,” Vasquez told the conference in Houston, Texas.
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