Panama: Kanaal
From Handelswijzer Midden-Amerika
The Panama Canal was handed back to Panamanian administration on 31 December 1999.
Title XIV of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Panama set up the ACP. The Organizational Law on the Panama Canal (Organizational Law No. 19 of 11 June 1997, "Organization of the Panama Canal Authority") establishes the ACP as an autonomous legal person under public law which has exclusive charge of the operation, functioning, administration, preservation, maintenance, improvement and modernization of the Canal and for its related activities and services. The Law does, however, allow the ACP to delegate to third parties, in full or in part, the performance of certain works or services. The Law provides that the Canal is the inalienable heritage of the Panamanian nation and may not be sold, assigned or mortgaged.
Administration of the ACP is the responsibility of a Board of Directors whose Chairman is appointed directly by the President of the Republic and has the status of Minister of State for Canal Affairs. The ACP receives income from the tolls, duties and taxes charged for using the Canal, for the services supplied and for the concessions granted. It draws up its budget independently, but this is submitted to the Cabinet Council for approval and then to the National Assembly, which may only approve or reject it, but may not amend it.
Law No. 19 of 1997 provides that, once the operating costs, investment and the costs of modernizing and enlarging the Canal have been met and the required reserves stipulated in the Law and the regulations have been set aside, the surplus is handed over to the National Treasury during the subsequent fiscal period. The ACP also pays annually to the National Treasury fees per net tonne, or its equivalent, collected from ships subject to tolls for going through the Canal and for the services rendered. These fees are set by the ACP. The ACP's resources may not be utilized to grant loans to public bodies or the Government and the Government may not use the income received by the ACP or its assets to guarantee borrowing by the State.
The ACP is empowered to engage the services of third parties, to lend them to the State under a contract and, subject to authorization by the Cabinet Council, to contract loans and any other type of credit commitment. The Law provides that the maximum normal term of contracts for concessions or leases is 20 years, although contracts for a maximum period of 40 years may be concluded on an exceptional basis. The ACP has its own public procurement system.
During the 2006 fiscal year, 43.8 per cent of traffic through the Canal was trade between the eastern seaboard of the United States of America and Asia; trade between the United States and the west coast of South America comes in second place (10.3 per cent), and third place is occupied by trade between the west coast of South America and Europe (6.7 per cent). In the same year, the container vessel component accounted for 113 million PC/UMS (Panama Canal Universal Measurement System) tonnes, 38 per cent of the total PC/UMS volume going through the Canal and 49 per cent of its revenue. The same year also, the dry bulk component represented 59 million PC/UMS tonnes and 20 per cent of revenue, while vehicle carriers accounted for 37 million PC/UMS tonnes and 13 per cent of revenue.
Pursuant to the Constitution, in accordance with Law No. 19 of 1997 and its implementing regulations the ACP sets the tolls, taxes and fees for using the Canal and related services after a consultation and public hearing procedure in the case of tolls and subject to approval by the Cabinet Council. The ACP sets and collects tolls and the fees for transit and related services. Rates are calculated on the basis of the cost of operating, preserving, maintaining and modernizing the interocean waterway and the competitive advantage of the maritime route through the Panama Canal. The revenue earned from tolls is used to finance capital investment and improvements to the Canal. During the period 2002-2003, the ACP embarked upon the first phase of changing its pricing policy and introduced a new structure that established a price difference according to size of the vessel. In 2005, the ACP changed the tonnage measurement system applicable only to container vessels and those with container-carrying capacity on deck. This change modified the measurement system utilized as a basis for charging these vessels, from PC/UMS tonnes to a 20-foot container, and established as the basis the total cargo capacity of the vessels, including on-deck containers. This change was implemented over a period of three years, beginning on 1 May 2005 and ending on 1 May 2007. For other types of vessel with on-deck container-carrying capacity, the ACP continues to apply the PC/UMS tonnage to measure the enclosed and below deck spaces and charges a per TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) fee for containers carried on deck at the time of transit.83 In 2007, the ACP modified the tolls and tonnage measurement rules. For passenger vessels, the ACP imposes tolls on the basis of the maximum passenger capacity.
Tolls have increased since 2002; between 2000 and early 2007, the aggregate increase in the average toll was 15 per cent. In mid-2007, tolls increased by a further 10 per cent, with a new increase of 11.3 per cent planned for May 2008 and third of 7.4 per cent for May 2009 (average increase per tonne of cargo); the increases applicable to containers are 10 per cent in 2007, 16.7 per cent in 2008, and 14.3 per cent in 2009, per container, respectively. Maritime rates can be consulted on the ACP's Internet site.
The Panama Canal makes a vital contribution to Panama's economy. In 2006, the ACP's contribution to Panama's balance-of-payments current account was B 1,537.6 million, or 9 per cent of the current GDP. In 2005, the Canal's direct contributions to the National Treasury amounted to B 569.7 million or 3 per cent of GDP. Total direct contributions transferred to the Treasury since Panama started to administer the Canal, in the 2000 fiscal year up to the 2006 fiscal year, amounted to B 2,390.8 million.
During the 2006 fiscal year, total tolls amounted to B 1,026.4 million and the ACP's total revenue was B 1,494.8 million. In the same year, 14,194 vessels went through the Panama Canal. These ships represented a total of 296.3 million PC/UMS tonnes in terms of cargo capacity, equivalent to 86 per cent of the Canal's maximum sustainable capacity. The latter is estimated to be 340 million tonnes a year. There are not sufficient vacant reservations for all those requesting one. In 2005 and 2006, the Canal was unable to accept approximately 20 per cent of vessels seeking a reservation.
In 2006, a public referendum approved the Canal's enlargement through the building of a third set of locks. Law No. 28 of 17 July 2006 approved the proposed construction of the new locks. The Law provides that all the costs of the works and the corresponding financial commitments and obligations of any other nature caused by the work of enlarging the Canal will be paid out of the funds generated by the Canal's operation and by increased tolls and that there will be no subsidies from the State. The project's financing will be neither be backed nor guaranteed by the State.
The estimated cost of the project is B 5,250 million. It is estimated that it will take a maximum of eight years to complete the project, between 2007 and 2014. The third set of locks will start to operate in 2015. The authorities forecast that traffic through the enlarged Canal will increase from the 280 million PC/UMS tonnes that went through the Canal during the 2005 fiscal year to around 510 million PC/UMS tonnes in the 2025 fiscal year. It is estimated that the possibility to use ships of larger tonnage will lower the operating costs by between 7 to 17 per cent. It is also hoped to increase the Panama Canal's market share, for example, on the container route between North-East Asia and the eastern seaboard of the United States.
Although it is hoped to obtain considerable benefits from the Canal's enlargement, there are also some risks because of the possibility that the costs and time-limits for implementing the project may not be respected. The ACP identified some of these risks and their possible causes: for example, in the case of delays, which are considered to be the principal risk, it is indicated that these could be caused by problems relating to the contractors or the labour force, as well as logistical problems. The ACP also recruited the services of an international consultant to identify the risks and make recommendations on how to avoid or manage them. In this connection, the company AON Enterprise Management identified as the major risk the organizational structure of the ACP, which might lead to inefficiency in enlarging the Canal; the study recommended that the ACP be reorganized in order to avert this possibility and proposed possible solutions to overcome the other risks identified.
Bron: Organization of American State's Foreign Trade Information System (SICE)
Verwachte groei
De uitbreiding van het Panamakanaal zal naar verwachting leiden tot een lange periode van economische expansie. De investering van minimaal USD 5,2 miljard zal Panama in de komende 20 jaar tot een van de snelst groeiende economieën ter wereld maken. Dankzij deze permanente en stabiele inkomstenbron zal de omzet van het Kanaal naar verwachting vervijfvoudigen van USD 1,2 miljard (2005) naar USD 6,2 miljard (2025) met een netto winstgroei van USD 484 miljoen in 2005 naar USD 4,31 miljard in 2025. Dat is een gemiddelde netto winst stijging van 11,6% per jaar (voor 20 jaar). De prognose is dat er over de periode 2007 – 2025 meer dan USD 37 miljard zal worden afgedragen aan de staat. Vanaf 2014 zal de derde set sluizen operationeel zijn. In minder dan 20 jaar moet het Bruto Nationaal Product (BNP) van Panama zijn verdubbeld.
