This past February, the Panama Supreme Court nullified the existing contracts with CK Hutchison to operate the marine terminals on both sides of the canal.
Hutchison began arbitration proceedings with the International Chamber of Commerce and are seeking $2B in damages.
Last month, China-based Cosco and OOCL announced they would be changing their port of call from Balboa (on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal) in favor of Manzanillo.
As mentioned in the “Feds Focus on Maritime” article above, Chinese ports are detaining Panama-flagged vessels for increased inspections.