A few months after receiving the approval of the board of directors of the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) to renew the concession contract for another 25 years, Panama Ports Company (PPC) is denounced by the Swiss shipping company Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) of wanting to impose two companies to receive the maintenance and inspection service in refrigerated containers.
This confronts two large companies in the maritime sector. PPC is the operator of the port of Balboa and in the past it showed its power in Panama, by stopping the bidding process for the port of Corozal, which left the Canal, with several lawsuits. Meanwhile, MSC is the largest shipping company in the world in cargo capacity and a client of the Panama Canal, which in the future will operate a port in Colón, with an investment of $1.2 billion, according to the government of Laurentino Cortizo.
In a note sent March 9, 2022 to the administrator of the AMP, Noriel Araúz, the vice president of operations of the MSC, Raffaele Porzio, recounted what was happening. ‘Since January 22 of this year we have been experiencing unprofessional attitudes and coercive actions by the concessionaire Panama Ports Company,’ he said.
It describes that PPC began to deny entry to companies that have been providing auxiliary maritime services to MSC reefer containers in Panama, for more than 9 years, with very confusing arguments.
“PPC is forcing us to perform the aforementioned services with two companies (Serviestiba and Chaplaire) that we do not know, have not certified, and do not trust in the safety of our equipment and goods. As a user of the Panama hub, we feel that we have been extorted,” he warns, by imposing a local company with which MSC has no contractual relationship.
Source: hellenicshippingnews.com