Conglomerado hongkonés reclama 1.500 millones de dólares a Panamá por incautación de puertos

A Hong Kong conglomerate filed for international arbitration this week, seeking more than 1.5 billion dollars in damages from Panama after the Central American nation seized control of two strategic ports at opposite ends of its famous canal. CK Hutchison, the sprawling company controlled by Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong's richest man, contends that Panama violated an investment protection treaty through what it describes as a coordinated campaign of state action against the firm's decades-old port operations.

The seizure itself occurred in February, when Panama's Supreme Court ruled that the concession allowing Hutchison's subsidiary, Panama Ports Company, to operate the Balboa and Cristóbal ports was unconstitutional. The government moved swiftly to take control of both facilities. The timing and the geopolitical backdrop matter enormously here: the ports sit at the heart of one of the world's most critical shipping corridors, and their fate has become entangled in the broader tensions between Washington and Beijing over influence in the region. Since returning to the White House last year, Donald Trump has accused China of effectively controlling the canal, a charge that has intensified scrutiny of any Chinese or Hong Kong involvement in its operations.

Panama Ports Company has been running these two ports since 1997, and in 2021 secured a renewal of its concession for another 25 years. That contract, now voided by the court decision, represented a substantial long-term asset. The company had already filed a separate arbitration claim in March seeking at least 2 billion dollars in compensation, arguing the seizure was illegal under international law. CK Hutchison says those proceedings are advancing. The new claim filed this week focuses on different legal grounds—specifically, rights derived from investment protection treaties rather than the contractual rights at stake in the earlier case.

The broader business context adds another layer of complexity. Last year, CK Hutchison announced a preliminary deal worth 23 billion dollars to sell its entire global port business, including the two Panama operations, to a consortium that includes the American investment firm BlackRock. That transaction has stalled, caught between geopolitical tensions and legal challenges spanning China, the United States, and Panama. In April, Hutchison's subsidiary also initiated arbitration against the Danish shipping and logistics giant Maersk after Maersk took over some of the port operations in Panama following the seizure. Maersk has said it does not believe it bears responsibility for the claims.

What unfolds now is a collision between commercial interests, national sovereignty, and great-power competition. Panama owns and administers the canal, a fact the government has emphasized as it asserts its right to control the ports. But Hutchison argues it held legitimate contractual and treaty rights that were stripped away through what amounts to political retaliation. Beijing and Hong Kong have already protested the seizure. The arbitration proceedings will test whether international law can compel compensation when a nation decides, for reasons of national security or constitutional principle, to reclaim control of critical infrastructure. The outcome will reverberate far beyond Panama's shores, signaling to foreign investors what their assets are worth when geopolitical winds shift.