China’s COSCO Shipping has halted operations at Balboa port, situated at the entrance to the Panama Canal, according to local newspaper La Prensa, which shared a notice from the shipping and logistics giant with its clients.
Legal Ruling Sparks Port Shift
Balboa is one of the two ports at the center of a year-long saga involving Washington, Beijing and the Panamanian government. The move follows a ruling by Panama’s Supreme Court in late January that annulled the contract to operate the port held by a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison.
APM Terminals, a unit of Maersk, recently began temporarily operating the port for a period of up to 18 months.
In the notice to clients obtained by La Prensa, COSCO said empty containers must be returned to the Manzanillo International Terminal or the Colon Container Terminal, both in Colon province.
It did not specify the reason for the suspension or say whether the measure was temporary or permanent.
Geopolitics and Strategic Moves
CK Hutchison had unveiled a plan in March 2025 to sell 43 ports in 23 countries, including the Balboa and Cristobal ports near the Panama Canal, to a consortium led by BlackRock and Italian Gianluigi Aponte’s family-run shipping firm MSC.
The deal quickly became entangled in U.S.-China geopolitical tensions, drawing praise from Washington and criticism from Beijing amid the two countries’ broader trade dispute and calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for greater U.S. control over the canal.
Amid scrutiny from Beijing, CK Hutchison said in July that it was in talks with the consortium for them to add a Chinese “major strategic investor” to the bid. COSCO was identified by sources as the investor.
On Tuesday, China’s state planner held meetings with executives of Maersk and the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the agency said in a statement, without elaborating on what the meetings were for.
(With inputs from Reuters)
