In a tale that proves the adage that the truth can be stranger than fiction last week Panama’s National Assembly repealed the law granting terminal operator PSA’s concession in the country without anybody actually realizing it had happened.
A low-profile deputy of Panama’s National Assembly discreetly introduced, in a bill on the sale of liquors in residential area, an article repealing a contract-law agreed in 2015 between the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) and the PSA-Panama International Terminal for the construction and operation of a $400m, 2m TEU container terminal on the east bank of the Panama Canal Pacific entrance.
More disturbing was that the article went totally unnoticed during the debate about Bill 53 and was approved by the legislative plenary session of April 19.
When the full text was disclosed, it created uproar in the maritime and trade community, raising again the question of the integrity of the legal security of investments and the damage it would do to Panama’s international image when the country makes all efforts to become a maritime and logistics hub promoting its unique location for transhipment in the Americas.
President Varela has promised on Twitter that he would veto Bill 53 when it arrives at the Executive branch for its sanction.
