SHIPPING SERVICES
Since the start of 2005, APL has initiated operations from the port of Balboa for transhipment and connections to its own network of vessels. The China Shipping Agency (Central
America) provides services from the Far East to the US and Panama with vessels fully owned or operated by China Shipping Container Lines, affiliated to the China Shipping (Group) company. The company’s Far East-North America service operates 13 vessels (120,000teu in total) out of the company’s 98 container ships and also cooperates with CMA, ZIM and P&O lines on a service between the US East Coast and Asia. CMA-CGM, a global carrier, which operates on all the world’s oceans, started operations in Panama on January 1, 2006 under a jv named CMA CGM Panama. Before that date, the French corporation, the world’s third largest container shipping company, was represented in Panama by French Shipping Agency until December 2005.
M
EC Group is constituted by four companies and eight Divisions, all
related to the maritime sector. The group comprises MEC Shipyards, for new building and shipyard repairs, MEC Heavy Industries, for all heavy steel fabrication, MEC Marine Contractors for Port & Channels Maintenance and Construction, MEC Repairs for Afloat Maintenance and Ship Damage Repairs, Mec Stores, for ship chandler and ship supplies and Underwater Services, a commercial diving company, that has just complete the impressive record of over 200 immersions on the Panama Canal Expansion, with no accidents. During 2011, MEC Heavy Industries together with MEC Shipyards performed the first new building project in Panama, under ABS Class Approval, following ABS Offshore Construction Rules and with certified welders under ABS, LR and BV. ‘This project as a milestone in Panama maritime industry is and a big step for Panama, as it permitted transfer of technology and engineering from the US to MEC, a process that will help the company to lead the efforts to take advantage of the Free Trade Agreement between Panama and US when the FTA is ratified by the US Congress,’ says MEC Group president, Marvin Castillo. For MEC Stores, the ship supply
company of the group, 2010 was a year of challenges since it showed the company that times are changing. The result forced the organisation to re- invent itself, a process that brought great benefits since the company has
PANAMA MARITIME REVIEW 2011/12 China Ocean Shipping Company
(COSCO) opened offices in Panama in the late 1990s and is among Panama Canal’s top 10 customers. COSCO-Panama, which was transferred in 2003 to COSCON (formerly COSCO Americas), handles six branch agencies in Central America covering Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Panama. It also operates as a general agent for COSCO vessels and as well as other lines. All branches account to COSCO- Panama, which acts as an internal financial centre for group operations in the region. Chile’s Compania Sud Americana de
Vapores (CSAV) and Crowley have also opened offices in Panama, while Taiwan- based Evergreen operates its liner services and agencies for the region from its subsidiary in Panama located in its own ‘green’ building. MOL (Mitsui O.S.K. Lines), one of the first Panama Canal customers, opened its commercial office in Panama after a re- organisation in 2003. It relocated its
MEC Group
a projected growth for 2011 of 40% thanks to a diversification of its markets and re-exportation of services to Latin America. MEC Marine Contractors, the new
Division of the group, deployed its fleet in 2011 of marine construction equipment in August 2011, and showed the strength of the group, with the full re building of its 4,000 HP tug boat (MEC Salvage), a 280ft, 100 tonne crane construction barge (MEC Barge I), a 2,400 HP twin push tug boat (MEC Towing), and three working boats (MEC Repairs, MEC Fast and MEC Divers), making the group’s entrance on the marine construction market, a success with $20m of awarded contracts. Underwater Services, the commercial
diving company of the group, has got itself heavily involved on the Panama Canal expansion, as the contractor in charge of salvaging and recovery of the
old submerged rail road on the centre of the Canal expansion works. This operation required over 200 immersions, performed 24hrs a day, with over 12 certified divers, a record for any diving operation on the history of the Panama Canal. Underwater Services is approved by the Association of Divers Contractors International (ADCI) by the Panama Canal as a diving company and the only ABS ISO 9001:2000 certified, commercial diving company in the region. Marvin Castillo’s strategy of
diversifying and expanding the companies forming MEC Group has turned the group into one of the leaders on the Panama maritime industry. ‘We see the group growing in the next 5 years into the largest logistic marine group of the area, exporting its services to other markets and leading the incipient ship new building industry of Panama,’ says Castillo.
vessel operation centre from Concord, Ca, thereby centralising the planning of all vessel movements and cargo stowage in North America, Central America, South America, Canada and the Caribbean. SC Line started operations in 2008 as
the only domestic Panamanian shipping line. The lure of a growing regional shipping business convinced Spanish entrepreneur Jose Maria Sola Freixa that Panama was an ideal location to base a shipping company, leading to the start of the Panama- headquartered Silkton Corporation. The company operates three vessels in tramp business, all flagged in Panama: the 6,100dwt Artic Clipper; the 6,324dwt Indian Clipper; and the 6,150dwt Pacific Clipper. They work mostly in the Caribbean, Central America and on the South America Pacific and Atlantic coasts, having signed several CoAs to carry regional commodities. It recently added to its fleet with the 6,078dwt Ro- Lo Panama-flagged Med Clipper. Diesel Engines Services (Panama) S.A.
MEC Stores owners – Jose Borrero and Marvin Castillo 69
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