The Panama Maritime Authority extended for a 25-year term and in favor of the Panama Ports Company, the contract for the development, construction, operation, administration and management of container terminals.
The Board of Directors of the Panama Maritime Authority declared itself in permanent session as of May 27, 2021, for the purpose of analyzing compliance with Contract Law No.
As a result of the global trade imbalance that has become evident in the last year and the considerable increase in logistics costs, Guatemalan importers are beginning to look to Brazil as an option to replace purchases from Chinese companies.
In early March of this year, CentralAmericaData reported that as a result of the imbalance faced by world trade flows, shipping lines have changed their routes and prefer to move empty containers to Asia, a situation that at that time already generated shortages and caused increases in transport rates.
After Panama's National Assembly approved a legislative bill that sets the minimum wage for workers in the maritime industry at $4.15 per hour, local businessmen have expressed their disagreement.
The document approved in third debate, establishes in its articles that workers of concessionary companies, contractors and subcontractors of ports and maritime transport terminals will earn a minimum wage of $4.15 per hour throughout the national territory, informed the National Assembly on April 12, 2021.
Due to the imbalance in world trade flows, shipping lines have changed their routes and prefer to move empty containers to Asia, a situation that generates shortages and causes increases in freight rates and raw material prices.
In this scenario of new commercial reality, the operating costs of maritime freight have been impacted, since due to the restrictions imposed in several countries around the world, containers have been stranded.
The Panama Maritime Authority tenders the operation services of the Balboa Shipyard facilities, which includes the rehabilitation, development and administration of the site, for a 20-year term.
Panama Government Purchase 2021-2-03-0-08-08-LV-008104:
"The Balboa Shipyard, dating back more than 100 years, located in the Pacific, is the only facility in Panama and in the entire region that has three (3) dry docks, one with the necessary dimensions to service Panamax vessels.
As of December 15, the X-ray module began operating in the Guatemalan maritime terminal, which will serve to inspect, in a non-intrusive manner, the contents of the containers that are used to import and export goods.
The regulations that will apply for these non-intrusive verifications were published in the Diario de Centro America. The implementation of this system is an indispensable requirement for the certification of ports by the Coast Guard in national security issues and by the tax collector.
In Honduras, tugging services are being tendered for the execution of docking and undocking of ships, for the maritime terminals of Cortés, Omoa, Tela and San Lorenzo.
Honduras Government purchase LPI-ENP-01-2020:
"Consists of providing docking and undocking services in Puerto Cortés and Omoa with a minimum of 2,400 operations between two tugboats in the twelve months, redocking service in the Port of Tela that includes time for the vessel to be kept and the crossing.
A few days before the expiration of the crane service contract in Guatemala's Port of Santo Tomas de Castilla, local exporters expect a possible scenario of rising costs and slower operations.
The crane service contract was in force for 10 years and will expire on September 6. So far, businessmen do not know clearly what is the status of the tender, which the National Port Company Santo Tomas de Castilla (Empornac), must make to award the contract..
After the Quetzal Port Company of Guatemala and the Port of Chiapas, Mexico, signed an agreement for strategic commercial promotion, it is expected that in May the short sea route will begin to operate.
The potential offered by the Port of Chiapas as a logistic node for commercial exchange from and to Central America, as well as with other international markets, makes it a strategic place for the promotion of the Short Sea Shipping (SSS) project with Guatemala and eventually with other Mesoamerican countries, informed the Mexican Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT).
In Costa Rica, exporters insist that rates be renegotiated at the Moin Container Terminal, since currently the cost of moving a container at that terminal exceeds by about $207 what was paid at the Japdeva docks.
The president of Guatemala offered the neighboring country to explore the possibility of El Salvador having a maritime cargo terminal in the Guatemalan Atlantic, a proposal that generates doubts among exporters.
The announcement was made on January 27th, during a meeting between Alejandro Giammattei and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, on the occasion of the signing of the open skies agreement.
Between January and November 2019, the national port system continued to record positive numbers, as 85 thousand metric tons of cargo were mobilized, a figure 11% higher than that reported for the same period in 2018.
The General Comptroller of the Republic reported that only last November there was a 10% year-on-year increase in cargo movement, rising from 7.5 million metric tons in the eleventh month of 2018 to 8.2 million metric tons in the same period in 2019.
The Panama Chamber of Commerce requested the Panama Canal Authority to postpone the start of collection of the fee for the use of fresh water in the Canal, which would begin to be paid on February 15, 2020.
On January 13, the Panama Canal Authority announced that this year "... the value of water will be incorporated into the line of other maritime services through a charge for fresh water, which will depend on the availability of the resource at the time of the vessel's transit. The freshwater charge is applicable to all vessels over 125 feet in length that transit the Canal:
Between January and October 2019, the national port system mobilized 77 thousand metric tons of cargo, a figure 11% higher than that reported in the same period of 2018.
According to figures from the General Comptroller of the Republic only last October reported a 3% year-on-year increase in cargo movement, rising from 7.5 million metric tons in the tenth month of 2018 to 7.8 million metric tons in the same period of 2019.
Along with the possibility of investing $350 million in the construction of new facilities in the Puerto Caldera, in Costa Rica, comes the promise of more competitive maritime service rates.
The interest in developing the terminal expansion project has been expressed by SPC, the current concessionaire of the Costa Rican Pacific maritime terminal, and by DP World, the UAE state port company, companies that would invest in the construction of 800 meters of berthing area at a depth of 16 meters.