Hong Kong conglomerate says Panama Canal ports seized by authorities

CK Hutchison says the Panamanian authorities has taken ‘administrative and operational management’ of its two ports on the canal.

The federal government of Panama has seized management of two ports on both finish of the Panama Canal from a Hong Kong conglomerate following a latest ruling by the nation’s Supreme Court docket.

Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison mentioned on Tuesday that Panama’s authorities had “made direct bodily entry into the terminals at Balboa and Cristobal” and assumed “administrative and operational management” over the 2 ports on the Panama Canal.

The corporate mentioned the “illegal” takeover displays the fruits of a marketing campaign by the Panamanian state in opposition to its subsidiary, Panama Ports, following the Supreme Court docket ruling final month.

Based on a authorities decree, the Panama Maritime Authority has been authorised to occupy the ports for “causes of pressing social curiosity”, in line with The Related Press (AP) information company.

The maritime authority additionally has the suitable to take over port property, together with laptop methods and cranes, in line with the decree.

The state takeover marks the most recent twist in a yearlong saga for CK Hutchison, which has been caught in a three-way struggle between China, the USA, and Panama following US President Donald Trump’s return to the White Home final 12 months.

Beginning in December 2024, Trump started to allege that the Panama Canal was being operated by China and promised to “take it again” – utilizing army drive if essential – as a part of a better effort to reassert US dominance over the Western Hemisphere.

Final month, Panama’s Supreme Court docket dominated that CK Hutchison’s concession to function the 2 ports was “unconstitutional” regardless of the corporate renewing its concession in 2021 for one more 25 years.

The Chinese language authorities’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Workplace (HKMAO) weighed in on the controversy, describing the ruling as “absurd” and “shameful”, whereas warning that the Latin American nation would pay “heavy costs each politically and economically”.

Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino responded, saying he “strongly” rejected China’s risk in opposition to his nation and that Panama was a rustic that upholds the rule of regulation “and respects the selections of the judiciary, which is unbiased of the central authorities”.