By Marianna Parraga
HOUSTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The Panama Canal expects to announce the pre-qualified bidders for a project to build and operate two new container terminals by the end of this year, Administrator Ilya Espino said on Wednesday, advancing a tender process linked to one of the world’s most strategic trade corridors.
Speaking at the Houston International Maritime Conference, Espino said the canal authority has evaluated initial proposals, and the shortlisted companies will next receive a request for proposals, moving the project into a more formal bidding stage.
Espino did not elaborate on the pre-qualified companies but said that global shipping heavyweights such as Maersk and MSC, which already operate ports in Panama, could be potential bidders.
The new terminals are part of a broader $8.5 billion expansion plan aimed at turning the Panama Canal into a larger logistics and energy hub beyond its role as a shipping passage, one of the world’s most important arteries for maritime trade.
That broader plan includes a proposed $4 billion to $8 billion pipeline to transport liquefied petroleum gas, as well as two new container terminals expected to attract another $2.6 billion in investment.
Existing trans-shipment capacity in Panama is already tight, underpinning the push for expansion. Espino said the canal is also beginning to plan a third terminal project.
Under the current timetable, concessions could be awarded around mid-2027, with operations starting in 2030 or 2031.
Companies that showed early interest in the expansion projects include ENEOS, Energy Transfer, Exxon Mobil, Enterprise Products Partners, Chevron, Phillips 66, Targa Resources and ONEOK, the canal has said.
TRANSIT DEMAND
The freshwater-operated canal has implemented some draft and passage restrictions this year in anticipation of a very strong El Niño weather pattern, which typically reduces rainfall in Panama.
Espino said the highest amount paid this year by a ship to secure a Panama Canal transit reached $5.2 million, adding that the waterway continues to implement options to avoid long waiting times that can lead to high passage costs.
The canal has recently introduced changes to its booking and auction systems as it tries to balance demand across vessel segments while protecting water resources.
“We’re hoping the worst we go in the dry season is 32 (vessels authorized per day), as far as slots. People value more spaces than draft, when you have to balance between one and the other, because then more clients have opportunity to make a reservation,” she added.
The current passage limit is 33 ships per day. Maximum authorized vessel draft could be adjusted in coming months depending on rainfall, Espino said.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessel traffic remains below typical levels amid ship reroutings. The canal is now seeing about three LNG vessels per week, but that is still below the two LNG ships per day that transited the canal before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Espino said.
“We have been very resilient in a very volatile world,” she said. Due to the Ukraine-Russia war, the LNG market “disappeared from the canal” and is now starting to come back, Espino added.
The waterway is expecting 10,750 deep-draft transits this fiscal year, which will end in September 2027, below the 12,636 transits of the previous fiscal year, according to Espino.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Kylie Madry, Daina Beth Solomon and Jonathan Spicer)
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