Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg News)
February 23, 2026 5:00 PM, EST
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino ordered the temporary occupation of two ports run by a unit of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings after the country’s constitutional court ruled against the firm’s concession.
In a Feb. 23 speech, Mulino said the administration and operation of the two ports on the strategic Panama Canal will revert to the country’s National Maritime Authority to “guarantee the uninterrupted, safe and efficient operation of the ports.”
Mulino said the occupation applies to movable equipment at the ports and “does not imply the definitive loss of ownership rights.” He said the state will return the property, which includes cranes, to its owners “when the determining reason for the occupation ceases” and pay corresponding compensation, unless the equipment is sold to a new party.
APM Terminals, a division of A.P. Moller-Maersk, will operate one of the ports in the interim while a local unit of Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Co. will operate the other of the two ports until a new contract is signed under a new bidding process, La Prensa reported.
Maersk and MSC rank Nos. 7 and 9, respectively, on the Transport Topics Top 50 list of the largest global freight companies.
Panama’s top court struck down CK Hutchison’s concession to operate the ports in January in a blow to China. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio applauded the decision. Panama’s comptroller general had announced an audit of the concession in January 2025, a week before Donald Trump’s inauguration.
