Warning: Panama may lose its attractiveness as a maritime route

A stoppage of almost two days PSA container port The old Rodman terminal, due to a strike promoted by a minority group of workers, triggered local and international alarms. Even shipping companies like MSC noticed that it is the plan of a few workers and outside groups who just want to create chaos.

Chamber of Commerce of Panama He warned that this is a serious event for the logistics and port sector which, together with other situations affecting the logistics sector, could lead to the international market seeing other destinations and routes as more viable and attractive.

The union warned that this would cause potential job losses, with consequent cuts creating foreign currency and wealth for Panama.

“Any arbitrary and non-regulatory disruption that results in the slowdown or paralysis of the national logistics chain, causing irreparable reputational damage Panama as a logistics center is failing and undermine the competitiveness of the country,” he emphasized Chamber of Commerce of Panama through a statement signed by its board of directors.

He pointed out that certain practices that result in disorders in national logistics chainthey have become a common practice and a self-destructive custom for this country, for which we fully blame the lack of will of the government that does not advocate for the implementation of the law, along with a noticeable misunderstanding of the reality of the sector and its impact on the national economy.

Chamber of Commerce described as an imperative to highlight the duty to protect Panama’s logistics chain, with the aim of continuing to be a fundamental pillar of the national economy and to have significance in general well-being of the population.

“We appeal to the Ministry of Labor and Labor Development urgently promote the necessary arbitration to stop the work stoppage at PSA, a port facility that provides a public service. Similarly, we encourage Maritime Administration of Panama to ensure that the interests of the maritime sector of our country are protected, as established by Decree Law no. 7 of February 10, 1998, since the above interruptions create serious harm for all Panamanians,” he requested Chamber of Commerce of Panama.

It is true that the arbitration should have been called from the beginning, at the end of the negotiation period, not the second day after the port was paralyzed and a vote had already been held which resulted in the majority of workers not supporting the strike. completed. In other words, when the voting and the proper counting that determines whether or not the strike will go ahead is completed, and a majority in favor of it is not reached, ending the process entirely, arbitration is declared 24 hours after the voting ends. Then why wasn’t arbitration called for from the start and avoid closing the deal, affecting the carriers and trade and workerssince they stop getting paid for the days the company is closed?

Business Council of Logistics (COEL) He also warned of the negative consequences of paralyzing the work of the PSA port. “It is our duty to emphasize that such measures expose our logistics center to serious economic and reputational damage, damage to the entire country, since the natural flow of the supply chain is interrupted, a flow of vital importance for the production sector, especially for transporters, importers and exporters,” he said. COEL in a statement.

“We repeat our call to the authorities People’s government to use the measures provided for in our laws for the rapid establishment of dialogue channels with disaffected workers, with the aim of maintaining logistic means in operation and ensuring the right of free transit on our lines of communication”, he condemned COEL statement.

Raffaele Porzio, vice president of one of the most important shipping companies in the world, MSC, also declared in favor of stopping this Panamanian port and asked for support Authority Panama Maritime (AMP) “so that these situations do not lead to a standstill and that appropriate measures are taken to solve these problems by other means without affecting logistics activities.”

Porzio pointed to that port activity It can’t stop anytime, much less when it’s in the interest of very few people who just want to create chaos.

“If Panama pretends to be Logistics center which attracts international trade and investment, must apply public service rules to ports and guarantee legal certainty to companies,” he pointed out Vice President of MSC.