After it was announced that incentives would be given to cruise lines that establish their base port in one of the country's maritime terminals, Lindblad Expeditions expressed its intention to operate cruises from the ports of Cristobal and Amador.
According to the letter of intent that was sent, it is 6 operations in the year 2021 and 14 operations for 2022 of Lindblad Expeditions that operates its adventure cruises with National Geographic and Ancon Expeditions in Panama.
After the first tender to operate and maintain the cruise terminal at Isla Perico in Panama was cancelled, bases for a new tender were announced.
Panama Government Purchase 2019-2-03-0-08-LV-007549
"The awarded Contractor shall be in charge of carrying out all the Services that allow the efficient and satisfactory performance of the Base Port and Transit Regime operations, from the arrival or departure of the vessels by sea, to the access or departure of the passengers and their luggage by land.
The Maritime Authority canceled the tender to operate and maintain the terminal in Isla Perico, arguing that in an "analysis of the current statement of charges, inconsistencies were found for the operation and maintenance of the terminal."
In April 2019, the terms of the public tender were published, to award the contract for "Operation and maintenance of the cruise terminal of Panama, in Perico Island", but the authorities decided to cancel the tender.
The Panama Maritime Authority tenders the operation and maintenance of the cruise terminal on Perico Island.
Panama Government Purchase 2019-2-03-0-08-LV-007211:
"The Contractor awarded this Public Act will be in charge of carrying out all the Services that allow the efficient and satisfactory performance of the Base Port and Transit Regime operations, from the arrival or departure of the vessels by sea, to the access or departure of the passengers and their luggage by land.
At the end of the fiscal year it is estimated that the number of trips in the 2017-2018 season amounted to 256, which exceeds the 250 vessels reported during 2016-2017.
According to sector authorities, the 256 passenger ships that traveled through the Canal in the 2017-2018 cycle transported at least 300 thousand people, and for the 2018-2019 season which is about to begin, more than 230 cruise ships are expected to make trips.
The Chilean and Panamanian governments have agreed to promote a cruise route between both countries and decided that Chile will be the first Latin American ally of the Logistics Hub of Panama.
The president of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela, and his Chilean counterpart, Sebastián Piñera, agreed to jointly promote the Pacific-South cruise route, which will go from Panama to Valparaíso and vice versa, aimed at increasing the number of tourists visiting both nations, informed the Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Port Authority at the Dominican Republic will announce a proposal to develop a cruise and passenger terminal in Puerto Plata.
The project consists of rebuilding the port of Puerto Plata, which was destroyed after Hurricanes Irma and María, and building a cruise and passenger terminal.
The number of tourists that arrived at the Amador marina in the first quarter of the year almost tripled compared to the figure for the same period in 2017, and the number of cruises grew by 45%.
From a statement issued by the Tourism Authority of Panama:
April 9, 2018Cruise arrivals at the marina of Amador, in the Panamanian Pacific, during this first quarter of 2018 recorded an increase in ships and passengers.
The 2019 edition of the Central America Cruise Summit will be held in San Jose, Costa Rica, in the new National Congress and Convention Center.
Central America Cruise Summit is held every two years and this is the first time it will take place in Costa Rica. This event brings together more than 200 people including representatives of tour operators, shipping agents, tourism ministries, service providers and executives from the 19cruiselinesaffiliated with the FCCA, which operate more than 100 ships in Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America. In addition, the activity promotes seminars to train the tourism industry.
The consortium formed by the Belgian Jan De Nul and China Harbor Engineering Company already has the environmental backing to move forward with the construction of the port in the Amador Causeway, Panama.
The Environmental Impact Study was approved by the Ministry of Environment of Panama, and the consortium in charge of the work plans to complete construction of the terminal in two years.
The consortium made up of the Belgian company Jan de Nul and the Chinese company CHEC plans to finish construction of the cruise port on the Amador causeway in Panama in two years time.
The port terminal to be built on Perico Island will be able to simultaneously receive two mega vessels carrying a total of up to 10 thousand passengers. It will include different green areas, parking lots and facilities for boarding passengers and handling their luggage.
The 70% increase in the number of tourists who arrived on board cruise ships between January and July more than compensated for the slight decrease that was reported in the number of tourists that entered through other points of entry.
With the exception of cruise ports, all points of entry into the country, including Tocumen International Airport and the Paso Canoas border post, recorded a slight reduction in the number of tourists entering the country in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2016.
In the first four months, 205,500 tourists arrived onboard 125 cruise ships, 40 of which docked at Colon 2000, 22 in Amador and 19 in Cristobal.
From a statement issued by the Tourism Authority of Panama:
From January to April 2017, a total of 205,516 passengers landed at the country's main cruise ports, according to statistics provided by the Panama Maritime Authority to the Panama Tourism Authority.
The consortium formed by China Harbor Engineering Company Limited and Jan de Nul Panama has been awarded a contract to design, build and operate a cruise terminal in Amador.
The Panama Maritime Authority has awarded the consortium Cruceros del Pacífico a contract to design, build and operate a cruise terminal on Perico Island, in the Amador Causeway.Thetender, in which only the winning consortium participated, was postponed several times, at the request of the companies who had expressed their interest during the approval process.