Panama’s logistics – an unfinished puzzle

Panama is an unfinished jigsaw puzzle in its logistics industry because it has many assets but they are unconnected and unable to really work in a coordinated manner.

This view emerged from a forum organized by the logistics committee of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) prior to implementation of the Trade Promotion Agreement (FTA) between Panama and the United States.

In this context the logistics sector is seen as the big winner.

The Marketing and Communications Manager of Maersk Line Caribbean Cluster, Ariel Frias, stressed the importance of establishing a relationship of trust between the logistics platform and users as one of the challenges of the logistics sector with the entry of the FTA.

Like many users of the logistics platform, Frias agreed on the need for Panama to offer to handle the demands of the logistics market and processing.

Maersk Line is the biggest shipping company in the world and number one user of the Canal, ports the railway. It considers it necessary to create a legal framework for interconnection between ports and logistics parks.

At a Logistics Forum organized by the Panama Chamber of Shipping (CMP), participants talked about working on legislation for the logistics hub, because there is currently none.

In this regard, lawyer Alberto Lopez Tom acknowledged that one of the deficiencies in Panama is not having a regulatory framework for the logistics industry. The concept of “logistics” is not incorporated in most Panamanian legal standards, either in the Commercial Code or supplementary regulations.

Maersk Line executive Frias said that Panama is a puzzle, which is well advanced in its construction and is unique.

This post is also available in: Spanish