The Panama Canal published this Friday the prequalification documents for a gas pipeline and two new port projects, with investments exceeding $6 billion, as part of the diversification of the business through which 3% to 6% of world trade passes. "The Prequalification Documents published on the Panama Canal's official website (https://concesiones.delcanal.com) will inform interested parties on how to provide the necessary documentation to participate in the bidding processes for these initiatives," stated a release from the waterway's administration. The gas pipeline project, with an investment of at least $4 billion, was presented to the market last September, and the port projects in Corozal (Pacific) and Telfers (Atlantic), with a total investment of $2.6 billion, in October 2025. The Panama Canal Administration (ACP) explained in a statement that the documentation provided by interested parties will be verified by a Technical Evaluation Board within an unspecified timeframe. The administrator of the Panama Canal, Ricaurte Vásquez, said on December 2nd that he aspired to "in 90 days (after) the prequalification closes, we can announce the prequalified companies in the case of the ports, and in the case of the gas pipeline, it may take us five months, depending on how many participants there are." The publication of the prequalification coincides with the announcement by the Government of Panama that it will put out to new tender two ports around the interoceanic canal operated until now by a subsidiary of the Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison, at the center of U.S. threats. "This initiative contemplates a gas pipeline of approximately 76 kilometers, with access to terminals on the Atlantic and the Pacific, designed to transport propane, butane, and ethane, with a capacity of up to 2.5 million barrels per day through the isthmus, without requiring transit through locks or additional consumption of fresh water from the Canal," detailed the Canal. This comes amid plans for the Panamanian government to retake control of the waterway, whose contract with the Panamanian state was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Justice. For the development of the ports on both sides of the Canal, "individual meetings have been held with representatives of the companies" APM Terminals (Netherlands), Cosco Shipping Ports (China), CMA Terminals (France), DP World (UAE), Hanseatic Global Terminals (Netherlands), MOL (Japan), PSA International (Singapore), SSA Marine–Grupo Carrix (USA), Terminal Investment Limited (Switzerland), ONE (Japan), Evergreen (Taiwan), detailed the Canal. The project contemplates "the development of two container transshipment terminals, one on the Atlantic and one on the Pacific, with the objective of increasing the national transshipment capacity by 5.0 to 6.0 million TEU per year, consolidating Panama's leadership as a competitive global intermodal center," added the ACP. The ACP's Head of Related Business Development, Rafael Pirro, said last October that they expected "to award the concession contract (for the ports) before the end of 2026 and to be able to start operations of these terminals by the beginning of 2029." For the gas pipeline project "meetings were held with the following companies: ENEOS, Energy Transfer, ExxonMobil, Enterprise Products Partners, Chevron, Fortress Investment Group, Gyxis Corporation, Itochu Corporation, NMDC Group, Vopak, Astomos Energy, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Iwatani, I Squared, Movement Industries, Otamerica (Oiltanking America), Phillips 66, SK Gas, Sumitomo Corporation, SMBC (Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation), Targa Resources, Ultranavy, ONEOK".
