By Igor Patrick

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Panamanian authorities on Tuesday announced an US$8.5 billion plan to modernise and expand the Panama Canal over the next decade, while sidestepping questions on whether Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison or others seen as having links to China could join future projects amid US concerns about Beijing’s influence over the waterway.
Hutchison Ports, a unit of CK Hutchison, has managed terminals in Balboa and Colon – on opposite ends of the trade channel – since the 1990s. Its role has drawn sharp criticism in Washington, where lawmakers and members of US President Donald Trump’s administration see the company as a proxy for Beijing’s influence over the canal.
In his inauguration speech, Trump also vowed to reclaim US control of the Panama Canal through force if necessary, alleging that Panama has given China excessive operational influence.
Panama’s “Vision 2025–2035” strategy sets out four priorities: a new reservoir on the Indio River, a 76-kilometre pipeline for liquefied petroleum gas, new container terminals and the expansion of logistics corridors.
Canal administrator Ricardo Vazquez Morales said the projects aim to keep the route competitive and aligned with global trade shifts.

Vazquez pointed to rising flows of propane, butane and ethane exported from the US Gulf coast to China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and other Asian destinations. Demand for such energy products is expected to double within ten years, he said, warning that Panama could lose business to rival routes without new capacity.
The administrator also added that China’s entry into the World Trade Organization had anchored globalisation and shaped traffic for decades, a pattern “now under strain from trade disputes”. As an example, he cited a recent surge in shipments from Asia to the US as companies rushed to move goods ahead of new tariffs announced by Trump in the first few months of his second term as president.
The volatility of the markets is such that it is highly unpredictable what will happen tomorrow,” Vazquez said. “That uncertainty makes it essential for the canal to expand its capacity and remain competitive.”
The plan was presented as the canal’s neutrality faces renewed scrutiny. Minister for Canal Affairs Jose Ramon Icaza called neutrality “a global value” and said the waterway will continue to serve all nations “without discrimination”.
At a UN session in August chaired by President Jose Raul Mulino, Beijing defended that principle while Washington warned of “outsize Chinese influence” over infrastructure that is critical for US national security.
Controversy over CK Hutchison intensified in July when Panama’s attorney general opened a probe into alleged wrongdoing by its local subsidiary, Panama Ports Company, which manages the Cristobal and Balboa terminals.
The firm urged “respect for the rule of law” as the government moved to test its contracts in court. Mulino has since suggested turning the concessions into state-majority partnerships if the courts strike them down, though analysts say that would require congressional approval and could delay restructuring.
At the same time, CK Hutchison is seeking to sell stakes in more than 40 terminals worldwide in a US$22.8 billion deal with a consortium led by BlackRock and MSC. Beijing has pressed for a mainland investor to join the sale, adding to scrutiny in Panama.
Asked whether Chinese or other state-linked companies would be allowed to compete for new terminal concessions, Vazquez declined to name specific countries.
“The selection criteria have not yet been defined,” he said. “The administration will present them to the board of directors, and they will decide.”
Vazquez argued that Panama should act quickly while global attention remains fixed on the canal. “In the past six or seven months, Panama has been highlighted as an international logistics hub,” he said.
“All the discussion about ports, all the talk about transport methods, from BlackRock to what we see today, points to the fact that we are a nerve centre of trade,” he added. “Panama is in the media, it is in the conversation, and this window of opportunity cannot be missed.”