Opinion | The true cost of Panama’s port seizure lies in lost predictability
World

Opinion | The true cost of Panama’s port seizure lies in lost predictability

Economy World



There are few assets on earth as strategically sensitive as the ports flanking the Panama Canal. They sit at the hinge of global trade, where container ships glide between oceans and geopolitics moves just beneath the surface. That is why Panama’s seizure of two major port terminals operated by CK Hutchison, the Hong Kong conglomerate built by Li Ka-shing, deserves more than a passing headline.

It is not simply a contractual dispute dressed up as constitutional housekeeping. It is a stress test of the rule of law in an age when great power rivalry tempts smaller states to improvise.

The story is stark. Hutchison’s subsidiary had operated the Balboa and Cristobal terminals since 1997 under a long-term concession renewed through to 2047. The company invested heavily, modernising cranes, berths and logistics systems. Then Panama’s Supreme Court ruled the concession unconstitutional. Soon after, the state authorities moved in, removed the operator and handed control to the National Maritime Authority.

The government insists this is lawful. Critics see something closer to expropriation by decree.

Governments have the right to revisit deals. Contracts are not holy writ. But they are the scaffolding on which modern commerce rests. When a 30-year agreement, repeatedly affirmed, can be voided in a political season, investors will not study the footnotes of the ruling. They will study the risk premium.

Panama is not an isolated island of lawlessness. It is a service economy built on trust, logistics and finance. Its canal is a marvel of engineering and an artery of globalisation. The country’s prosperity depends on convincing the world it is a predictable steward of assets that do not belong to it alone in any moral sense. Yet predictability is precisely what has been called into question.

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