The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) has entered into a 20-year agreement with Spanish company Astilleros Canarios (Astican) to operate the Balboa shipyard. The shipyard was closed in 2018 and partially reopened last summer under AMP’s management. Astican is expected to restore the shipyard to full operations through new subsidiary company Astilleros Puerto Balboa SA (Astibal).
Astican was the only bidder in the contract process, but AMP noted in a release on July 20 that the company’s proposal met the mandatory requirements set out in the tender documents. Its bid of $14.4m for the rehabilitation, development and administration of the shipyard will be supplemented by a $20m investment in the facility, according to a company spokesperson.
The shipyard has three dry docks, one of which is large enough to handle panamax vessels.
