Maersk says it will bid for Balboa, but Panama has not set a tender date

Maersk wants to stay at Balboa for the long term, and is waiting for Panama to say how and when it can.

Antonio Domínguez, the group's president for Latin America and the Caribbean, told La Estrella de Panamá that APM Terminals will take part when the opportunity opens, and that the government has to define when the tender takes place. No date has been set.

APM Terminals Panama has run Balboa since February under a transitional contract of up to 18 months, approved by the Cabinet Council. Domínguez stressed that the arrangement is not a concession. MSC's Terminal Investment Limited runs Cristobal, on the Atlantic side of the canal, under a similar scheme.

How did the terminals change hands?

Panama's Supreme Court ruled against the Panama Ports Company concession for both ports on 29 January. The company, a CK Hutchison subsidiary, stopped operating them on 23 February, when the annulment appeared in the official gazette. The decree gives the state control until a new concession is awarded, within 18 months. That period ends in the summer of 2027.

CK Hutchison called the decree unlawful and has started arbitration against Panama, so the next operator of either port may take over a terminal that is still in dispute.

What else is Maersk looking at?

Domínguez also named two new terminals as opportunities: Corozal on the Pacific side and Isla Telfers on the Atlantic side. The Panama Canal Authority expects to award those concessions towards the end of 2027, with preliminary investment for the pair put at $2.6bn.

His wider argument was that Panama needs more port capacity than it has today. The Balboa tender and the canal authority's two projects would decide who adds it, and the first of those still has no timetable.

This story is part of the Maritime Briefing of 5 November 2026.