Panama is one of the most important jurisdictions in the world for the collection of maritime related claims, this is due to various reasons, both legal and commercial. The commercial aspects being, that the Panama Canal continues to be one of the most important maritime routes for international trade, mainly for the trade route Far East of Asia – North American east coast.

Also the existence of 6 port terminals on both sides of the Canal (4 in the Atlantic, and 2 on the Pacific), which together have the biggest cargo movement in all of the Latin-American countries, even surpassing the famous port of Santos in Brazil. Besides those factors, the country has the biggest ship registry in the world, the big majority of its merchant fleet consists of ships trading all around the globe, but its title of property and its collaterals (as ship mortgages) are registered in Panama.

Taking advantage of this particular maritime scenario, Panama has 2 specialized courts in maritime matters, functioning 24/7 the whole year, and conformed by judges with maritime law Master degrees and vast experience in the field. The legal proceedings at the Maritime Courts are ruled by the Code of Maritime Process, and its characteristics are based on the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as it is an institution dating back to the days of United States ruled Canal Zone, and inherited by our legal system from them. Hence the procedure rules applicable to Panamanian ordinary civil courts, do not apply for the maritime proceedings at these specialized courts.

The most important characteristics for litigating marine related claims at the Maritime Courts of Panama, are the following:

• Panamanian Maritime Courts acquire jurisdiction simply by the arrest of a vessel, its cargo or its freight, even if none of the parties involved are Panamanian, or that the contract was signed outside Panama, or the occurrence of the events giving birth to the claim take place outside our borders.
• A lawsuit, and an arrest of a vessel, cargo or freight, can be initiated merely with prima facie evidence of the existence of a due obligation, contractual or in tort, up to the point of initially accepting even copies of the original documents as such.
• Be it for contractual agreement or for forum conveniens reasons, the Panamanian Maritime Court can decline the jurisdiction it has acquired by way of the arrest, in favor of a foreign court. Nonetheless, the Panamanian Maritime Court can maintain the res arrested on behalf of the foreign court. And even though a foreign court continues with the procedure, the time limit established in the applicable statute of limitations is interrupted by the arrest of the vessel (cargo or freight) by the Panamanian Maritime Court.
• Once the Panamanian Maritime Court has acquired jurisdiction through the arrest, and declines jurisdiction in favor of a foreign court, it does so conditioning its decision, on the prior commitment from the parties that they shall not submit at the foreign court any Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction. If this should occur at the foreign court, the affected party can reinitiate the legal action at the Panama Maritime Court whom will regain jurisdiction.
• Possibility of actions In Rem against the vessel, to collect maritime liens.

The Government of Panama has announced a public bid for the construction of a large scale port on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal. This will be the third port terminal on this side of the Canal, which will be developed in a 112 hectares area. On the Pacific side, will compete with Panama Ports Company, a Hutchinson Port Holdings subsidiary, located in Balboa, and with PSA Panama International Terminal, recently built on Rodman. Additionally, will be next to the cargo train operated by Panama Canal Railway Company. This terminal is part of the Panamanian State Plan to develop cargo transport infrastructures, adding up competitiveness to these terminals (4 in the Atlantic, and 3 in the Pacific), to the maritime services and the total cargo capacity.

The Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) installed 3 cranes at the Rodman dock.  This dock was built under the concession granted by the Panamanian State for the port development, construction and operation. Is the second port terminal at the Panama Canal entrance of the Pacific Side. By this contract PSA shall carry out management and transportation of all type of merchandises, products, sub products, commodities, raw materials and any kind of cargo. With this terminal the amount of cranes in Panama docks increases to 60, and the country port capacity increases to 450 thousand TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit).