{"id":60796,"date":"2026-04-14T13:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/60796\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T13:50:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:50:56","slug":"ck-hutchisons-panama-unit-to-seek-arbitration-over-maersk-ports-takeover-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/60796\/","title":{"rendered":"CK Hutchison\u2019s Panama unit to seek arbitration over Maersk ports takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Container ship Maersk El Alto is guided by tugboats at Panama Ports Company. PPC said in a statement that Maersk broke a long-term contract by siding with the Panamanian government to help remove PPC from its operations at the Balboa port and replace it with a Maersk-affiliated operator.Aris Martinez\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison\u2019s Panama business said it would seek arbitration over Maersk\u2019s takeover of two strategic ports near the Panama Canal, which are at the centre of a legal battle between Beijing and Washington.<\/p>\n

Panama Ports Company (PPC) \u2013 which is already seeking an arbitration ruling<\/a> against Panama \u2013 said in a statement that Maersk broke a long-term contract by siding with the Panamanian government to help remove PPC from its operations at the Balboa port and replace it with a Maersk-affiliated operator.<\/p>\n

\u201cContrary to the contract, Maersk undermined the agreement and aligned itself with the Republic of Panama in connection with its state-led campaign against PPC and a scheme to replace it through a takeover that installed new port operators,\u201d PPC said in a statement.<\/p>\n

It said the arbitration would take place in London.<\/p>\n

Maersk, one of the world\u2019s largest shipping groups and a major ports operator, rejected the accusations. \u201cMaersk does not believe it is liable for the claims and will address them in the appropriate forum,\u201d the Danish company said in a statement to Reuters.<\/p>\n

The Panamanian government did not respond immediately to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

CK Hutchison\u2019s Hong Kong-listed shares rose 3.54 per cent, as the Hang Seng Index gained 2.77 per cent.<\/p>\n

Court ruling invalidates PPC Concession<\/p>\n

Panama\u2019s Supreme Court in late January invalidated the legal framework<\/a> supporting the 1997 concession granting PPC the right to operate the Pacific-facing Balboa and Atlantic Cristobal terminals on either side of the Panama Canal.<\/p>\n

Panama\u2019s government then awarded temporary contracts for subsidiaries of Maersk and the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) to run Balboa and Cristobal, respectively. PPC had previously said canceling the contracts and awarding the temporary licences was unlawful.<\/p>\n

PPC said in late March it had widened its international arbitration claim against Panama and its damages claim had risen to more than US$2-billion. It said its claim against Maersk is separate from and without prejudice to its ongoing efforts \u201cto hold Panama accountable for its anti-contractual and anti-investor conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court ruling to annul the contract followed extended pressure from the Trump administration, which said it wants to \u201ctake over\u201d the Panama Canal. The administration said it wanted to curb what it calls Chinese influence over the key waterway, which carries about 5 per cent of global maritime trade.<\/p>\n

Beijing has accused the U.S. of \u201cbullying tactics\u201d and called on foreign governments to provide a fair trade environment.<\/p>\n

The dispute also complicated CK Hutchison\u2019s planned US$23-billion sale of a majority stake in its global ports business to a consortium led by BlackRock and MSC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Container ship Maersk El Alto is guided by tugboats at Panama Ports Company.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[224],"tags":[2592,2582,2593,2574,2572,2594,227,2571,2587,2588,2584,2573,2570,1414,440,2072,2586,2580,2605,2575,2576,1585,2583,2501,2578,245,2595,436,2600,2601,2603,2598,2602,2596,2599,2577,2590,2591,1158,2589,2597,2581,239,1413,2585,2579,1161,2604],"class_list":["post-60796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-maersk","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-maersk","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}