Latin America and Panama are facing a maritime sector increasingly shaped by geopolitical uncertainty, shifting trade patterns and disruptions to global supply chains. According to shipping and terminal executives, these changes are also creating new opportunities for the region, provided that maritime and logistics players strengthen their integration and diversify the services they offer.
Speaking at the 11th Latin American Port Forum in Panama, Efrain Osorio, Maersk’s Managing Director for the Central America, Andean & Caribbean Sea Area, said the focus of competition has moved beyond individual ports or transport services.
“Today, supply chains compete against one another. The end customer does not buy a port or maritime transport. They buy reliability, visibility, speed and resilience across their entire logistics chain,” Osorio told the audience.
He stressed that integration is becoming a major factor in competitiveness, particularly when shipping lines, port terminals, inland transport, warehousing and digital solutions operate as a single ecosystem.
Such coordination can help reduce dwell times, improve inventory planning, lower overall logistics costs, strengthen supply chain reliability and reduce the environmental footprint of logistics operations.
The current geopolitical environment is generating volatility, altering trade routes and patterns, creating shipping disruptions and, in some cases, contributing to port congestion. Yet the speakers at the forum argued that these challenges could give Latin America a distinctive opportunity to strengthen its position in global maritime trade.
“Shipping is resilience and those who do not adapt will miss the opportunity,” said William Elliott, president of Panama’s Evergreen Colon Container Terminal (CCT).
Elliott noted that interaction between ports has become more efficient and argued that terminals should not view one another simply as competitors. Instead, he called for more streamlined and organised processes, supported by new technologies and rapid adaptation.
Osorio and Elliott agreed that taking full advantage of the changing environment will require much deeper integration among government authorities, ports, shipping companies, logistics operators and land-based infrastructure.
“The key is to offer more diversified services with added value. Resilience is offering and that is what customers look for,” they said.
For CCT, diversification has already taken a concrete form through the development of a logistics park next to the terminal. Elliott said the facility has recently attracted more customers to Panama who are looking to transform products locally, with demand continuing to grow.
“Nearshoring, friendshoring, diversification of manufacturing are opportunities for commercial exchange in the region, and the supply chain has to go with this tendency,” Osorio said.
The outlook for Panama’s maritime sector is also being shaped by a planned $8.5 billion investment programme over the next decade. The scale of those investments raises questions about whether Panama can further strengthen its competitiveness and reshape transhipment activity across the region.
At the same time, greater investment will intensify the question of how ports can compete not only with one another but also with terminals elsewhere in Latin America and beyond.
“As we are a transhipment hub, we need to be more efficient since our competition is outside,” said Enrique Piqueras, general manager of PSA-Panama.
Piqueras acknowledged that progress has already been made, but said stronger and more efficient coordination between the government and the private sector remains necessary.
“Governance is necessary. The sector cannot change strategy every five years [when a new government is elected],” he said.
For Latin America, the message from the forum is clear: geopolitical uncertainty may continue to disrupt maritime trade, but ports and logistics operators that invest in integration, diversification, technology and long-term coordination could turn that volatility into an opportunity for greater competitiveness.
