Panama Supreme Court Voids Panama Ports Concession: Vertical-Integration Risk for the Canal

PANAMA - In Brief 30 Jan 2026 by Marco Fernandez

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Panama’s Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional the legal framework underpinning Panama Ports Company’s (PPC) concession for the Balboa (Pacific) and Cristóbal (Atlantic) terminals, tied to the 1997 contract-law, its addenda, and the renewal act. These are not small assets: in 2025 Balboa handled 2.67 million TEUs and Cristóbal 1.21 million TEUs—about 3.88 million TEUs combined, roughly 39% of Panama’s total container throughput. The 2021 renewal had extended the arrangement until 2047, so the ruling effectively removes a concession runway that still had roughly two decades to run. In response, the government laid out a continuity plan to avoid disruption: until the ruling is formally executed, operations remain with the current operator and any handover is intended to be administrative. President Mulino also said there would be no layoffs, reinforcing continuity as the binding constraint. If the ports keep running and employment is preserved, the short-run macro/fiscal story is intentionally flat: no sudden stop in logistics activity, no immediate revenue shock from an operational halt, and no obvious “bridge financing” need created by the ruling itself. On transition mechanics, Mulino pointed to APM Terminals Panama (Maersk’s terminal arm) as a potential temporary operator once the ruling is executed, while the country moves toward a new concession to be bid and awarded—implicitly separating who operates day-to-day from who ultimately holds the concession right. If APM Terminals were to win the long-term tender, it would deepen vertical integration in Panama’s interoceanic logistics chain. Beyond its carrier and terminal footprint (Maersk is among the world’s la...