Welcome to the Panama Weekly Offshore News Roundup! This week, we look at the presidential debates, and how the race is heated up heading towards elections. We also look at the Panama International Film Festival, and a major multi-billion dollar port expansion in Colon. Here’s the latest:
Panama’s Seven Presidential Candidates Debate Before Vote
With just over two weeks until Panama picks a new president, the candidates squared off this week in a national debate, and didn’t pull any punches. Campaigning has been fierce over the past few months, with TV and radio outlets inundated with political ads, candidate coverage, and polling of local constituents. The race is pretty close, making this week’s debate very important in the final push to win votes.
During a debate last night, former Panama City Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro said he would use “an iron fist” to fight both violent crime and corruption that he said had grown under President Ricardo Martinelli. Vice President Juan Carlos Varela, who split from the ruling party, called for price controls on basic goods.
Panama’s economy expanded about 9 percent per year over the last five years, fueled by a $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal and government infrastructure projects. Consumer prices in March rose 3.3 percent from the year before, led by food costs, according the Central American nation’s statistics agency.
Source: Bloomberg
$8 Billion Mega Port Planned for Colon
Colon, Panama’s 2nd largest city, is expecting a major overhaul to its seaport by creating a mega marine terminal, to facilitate ships coming through the Caribbean side of the canal. The port development will also include a tourism and trade zone, power plant, eco-park, and commercial space.
According to the press report in February this year, “… The project is called Atlantic Panama Puerto Verde, whose development will be in the amount of $7.972 billion. The promoter is Linden Partners, a Spanish company.”
“The main objective of the Marine terminal is to meet future demand for shipping services and fuel supply of post-panamax boats that pass through the Canal, as well as serving as a complementary port for docking larger vessels with expanded dimensions which do not pass through the waterway. That is to say, those ships known as super post-Panamax. “
Source: Newsroompanama.com
PSA Gets Green Light for Panama Terminal Expansion
The Panamanian government has approved Singapore-based PSA International to expand its port in Panama, and extend its time there. The expansion, which will take place on the eastern side of the Canal, will allow for more ships, as well as bigger and more efficient logistics centers. The new contract is good for 20 years, and will cost roughly $350 million.
The existing terminal will add a total of 32 hectares for the development, construction, operation and management of the container terminal whose capacity will grow from the present 450,000 teu to 1.8m teu facilitating container movements, bulk cargo and vehicles.
The Panama Maritime Authority (PMA) will receive, at the end of the concession, in monthly fixed fees the sum of $17.6m, in addition to the rates for container units movements negotiated in the contract.
Source: Seatrade-Global.com
Panama International Film Festival Scores Big With Crowds
Panama’s 3rd International Film Festival closed out with a bang last week, capping a banner year for the event and its organizers. The festival screened over 70 films during the course of a week with filmmakers from all over Latin America, and the rest of the world, descending on Panama.
According to an interview with Variety Magazine, the festival’s organizer, Pituka Ortega Heilbron said “We believe there is not only an interest in Central American and Caribbean stories. It’s a cinema that has not been much out there, but there are extraordinary filmmakers coming out of this region and these countries have great stories to tell.” She continued by saying “We want to be the Central American film festival, not because we think we’re great but because we have as a country we have that responsibility: This region needs the push and Panama can and should be the platform.”
While the majority of the films presented were in Spanish, there was a strong contingency of English-language films as well, including Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive. In total, there were 73 films screened at this year’s festival, represented in various categories, including Documentaries, International Showcase, and Ibero-American Feature Debuts.
Continue reading about the Panama film festival
