Laura DiBella, head of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), warned on March 26 that the United States is closely monitoring China's recent actions against vessels flying the Panamanian flag. The statement indicates that China has imposed a drastic increase in the detention of Panamanian-flagged vessels at its port terminals, far exceeding historical levels. The note, signed by Commissioner DiBella, does not detail the number of vessels detained. However, records from the Tokyo MOU organization, which monitors port controls in the Asia-Pacific region, indicate that of the 66 detentions for irregularities carried out in Chinese ports so far this March, 46 corresponded to vessels flying the Panamanian flag. In contrast, throughout the entire month of March 2025, 94 detentions were carried out, of which 32 affected ships flying the Panamanian flag; and in the same period of 2024, 53 vessels were immobilized, 13 of which were sailing under the Panamanian flag, according to information from EFE. According to the FMC, these measures would be in response to retaliations following decisions adopted by Panama regarding the operation of port terminals. The conflict has its origin in the ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice of Panama, of last January 30, 2026, which annulled the concession contract granted to Panama Port Company, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong company CK Hutchison, to operate the terminals of Balboa and Cristóbal, located on the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the Panama Canal. Following the ruling, the Panamanian government designated as interim operators —for a period of 18 months— subsidiaries of the companies APM Terminals and Terminal Investment Limited, linked to the shipping giants Maersk and MSC. You may be interested in: Balboa and Cristóbal: keys to a possible extension of port concessions. In response, CK Hutchison has initiated legal and arbitration processes against the Panamanian state, with claims exceeding 2 billion dollars. The US federal agency has indicated that since Panamanian-flagged vessels carry a significant portion of that country's container trade, these actions could have significant commercial and strategic consequences for US maritime transport.
