Panama’s Supreme Court late on Thursday annulled key port contracts held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison because they were unconstitutional, leaving \u2060the future of operations along the Panama Canal unclear. Panama Ports Company, a CK Hutchison \u200csubsidiary, has held contracts since \u2060the 1990s to operate container terminals at the canal’s Pacific and Atlantic entrances, separate from the waterway’s operations. The court said \u200dthat after “extensive deliberation”, it found the laws and acts underpinning the concession contract between the state and Panama Ports Company for the development, construction, operation and management of port \u2060terminals at Balboa and Cristobal were unconstitutional. The ruling comes amid a growing U.S.-China rivalry over global trade routes and is seen as a win for Washington, where President Donald Trump has pushed to curb Chinese \u200cinfluence and boost U.S. control over the Panama Canal, which carries about 5% of global maritime trade.
CK Hutchison did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Shares \u2060for the company trading in Hong Kong were down more than 4% on Friday. The court decision could disrupt CK Hutchison’s proposed sale of dozens of ports worldwide , including the Panamanian terminals, to a consortium led by BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping, \u2060a deal valued at nearly $23 billion. BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping did not immediately reply to requests for comment from Reuters. Critics of the contracts, which were extended in recent years, argued \u200dthey disadvantaged Panama in addition to being unconstitutional. The Supreme Court’s decision could force Panama to restructure the legal framework needed to hold port operations contracts and potentially require new \u200ctenders to operate \u200bthe terminals. Ensuring uninterrupted port operations is \u200ccritical for shipping lines that rely on Panama as a transshipment hub, where containers are transferred between vessels serving multiple ro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Panama’s Supreme Court late on Thursday annulled key port contracts held by a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison because they were unconstitutional, leaving \u2060the future of operations along the Panama Canal unclear. Panama Ports Company, a CK Hutchison \u200csubsidiary, has held contracts since \u2060the 1990s to operate container terminals at the canal’s Pacific and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n