Overview
- The Panama Canal Authority launched a consultation to identify partners for new Corozal and Telfers transshipment terminals budgeted at $2.6 billion.
- An invite-only session gathered APM Terminals, DP World, PSA, Port Houston, CMA Terminals, TiL, and carriers including Maersk, MSC, Cosco, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM, ONE, OOCL, Yang Ming and ZIM.
- The authority outlined a selection roadmap with feasibility studies, pre-qualification and one-on-one dialogues, targeting concession awards by late 2026.
- The project is slated to lift container capacity from 9.5 million to 15 million TEUs, begin operations in 2029, and generate roughly 8,100 construction jobs and 9,000 operational roles.
- The push follows a stalled CK Hutchison port sale involving MSC’s TiL and BlackRock that drew U.S. support and Chinese resistance, with the deal facing regulatory reviews and a Panamanian court challenge to Hutchison’s concession extension.