CK Hutchison Holdings announced today that it has launched a international arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Panama "for - specified the Hong Kong group - violation of a investment protection treaty, by means of sovereign acts targeted a ten-year port concession and destroyed CK Hutchison's investments in Panama." The verdict arbitration is required following the exclusion of the Panama Ports Company (PPC) controlled by the management of the two container terminals at opposite ends of the Panama Canal, located in the ports of Balboa, on the Pacific side, and Cristóbal, on the Atlantic side. PPC had operated the two ports since 1997 and had obtained the renewal of the concession in 2021 for another 25 years.

After that, at the beginning of last year, the president Donald Trump had accused China of having the management of the Panama Canal, the issue had become a point of reference of US-China tensions. In 2025, the Comptroller General Panamanian had already raised accusations: Panama Ports had not obtained the required approvals for the contractual extension of the 2021 and owed millions of dollars in unpaid rent. Below pressure, C.K. Hutchison had negotiated a 23 billion euro deal dollars with a consortium led by BlackRock and participated by the Terminal Investment Limited (TiL) of the shipping group Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), to sell its assets non-Chinese port workers. Beijing had intervened, defining the sale a "bow" to American pressure and blocking made the transaction ( of the 21st, 23 and 27 January, 4 February, 4 and 18 March, 8 April and 27 May 2025). Hence the ousting of PPC from management of the two Panamanian terminals the step was short, and The sentence of last January of the Panamanian Supreme Court which had declared unconstitutional the concession awarded to Panama Ports Company ( of 30 January 2026). Following the revocation of the concession, in the weeks later, the Panamanian government had seized the Balboa and Cristóbal terminals and, therefore, had entrusted provisionally the management to the Maersk and MSC shipping groups ( of 24 February 2026).

C.K. Hutchison had therefore warned that any step taken by Maersk or its subsidiaries to operate ports without the agreement would probably have led to legal action, warning followed by the initiation of the first arbitration through the Panama Ports Company, with the request of two billion dollars in compensation for what had been defined as an illegal seizure ( of 8 April 2026).

Today the announcement by CK Hutchison of the start of a second international arbitration proceedings, this time at home level mother, with the request for more than 1.5 billion dollars in damages, alleging that Panama violated a treaty protecting the investments through measures adopted in 2025 and 2026, culminating in the revocation of the concession and the takeover of control of the terminals. The Chinese company spoke of a "campaign of state attacks" against its assets in the country Central American.

By announcing the commencement of the new legal action, CK Hutchison denounced that "Panama has shown that it has become a A risky country that ignores the rule of law, the corporate form, the scope of contracts, the scope of arbitration agreements, Treaty rights and dispute resolution in the field of treaties'. The Board of Directors of the Hong Kong group specified that PPC will continue to pursue their separate rights in separate arbitration already started.

This whole series of actions has effectively frozen the agreement with BlackRock for the sale of assets.