“The deal may continue with the remaining ports. The twist is that with the two key ports’ situation crystallised by the Panama Supreme Court, actually the ports deal may have a clearer path to completion, from the legal perspective,” said Winston Ma, New York University School of Law adjunct professor. He said CK Hutchison could use the arbitration process to seek damages and compensation for having the contracts annulled.
The deal opened a new front in contention between the United States and China, as they grapple for control of the world’s most important trade routes.
CK Hutchison’s Balboa and Cristobal ports are considered strategic assets in the Panama Canal, the main seaborne trading route into the United States. Balboa is at the canal’s Pacific entrance while Cristobal is at the Atlantic entrance.
The Panamanian court decision was welcomed by some US lawmakers as a “win for America”. President Donald Trump, who initially celebrated the proposed $23-billion ports sale, has called for the US to “take back” the Panama Canal in the face of Chinese influence.
APM Terminals Panama, a Maersk subsidiary, said on Friday it was willing to operate the Balboa and Cristobal terminals temporarily, to prevent any impact on regional and global trade.
(Reporting by Clare Jim and Kane Wu in Hong Kong and Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Writing by Scott Murdoch. Editing by Neil Fullick, Stephen Coates and Sonali Paul)
