LThe General Directorate of Ports and Maritime Ancillary Industries, is in charge of planning and coordinating the development plan of the National Port System, as well as to manage, expand and maintain ports and trade and ports installations of public use; it also has the responsibility to supply navigation facilities and other services required by vessels.

During the last 10 years, the evolution of port activities has reached its highest level in growth and development.

This rapid expansion is projected with the privatization of the main port terminals, as well as the construction of new terminals and has been reflected in the number of docked vessels and the volume of container cargo movements reached in the most recent years in the port complex, made up by Manzanillo International Terminal, Colon Container Terminal and Cristobal, with the highest movement in Latin America.

Panama Ports System is conformed by eighteen (18) ports from which eleven (11) are administered by the Panama Maritime Authority through the General Directorate of Ports and Maritime Ancillary Industries. These are mainly small ports that offered services to international transport and to coastal traffic. The remaining seven (7) ports, are managed and operated by private companies that develop their activities under the supervision of this General Directorate, through the captainship of the ports located in the Atlantic and Pacific areas.

Currently the port terminals of Balboa and Cristobal are under the administration of Panama Ports Company, member of the Hutchinson Port Holding (HPH) group. Likewise, new ports have been built, that are under the operation and administration of private companies, such as Evergreen with the Colon Container Terminal (CCT), Petroterminales de Panama (PTP) administrator and operator of the ports in Charco Azul, in Chiriqui and Chiriqui Grande, in Bocas del Toro; Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT) operated by Stevedoring Services of America (SSA).

Panama is on the path of becoming the main center for transshipment of containers in Latin America and the Caribbean, specifically the ports in the area of North Coco Solo, which is experiencing a sustainable and growing port development.

The maritime development of North Coco Solo, an old naval base of the United States Armed Forces in the Province of Colon, is due to the fact that there is a complete infrastructure of transportation, interconnected through ports, airports, railroad and highway, next to the Colon Free Zone, the greatest commercial area of the Western Hemisphere, where the main export and import companies are located, as well as docks and ship operating offices.

Both areas have been identified as possible sites for port and industrial development, as well as for transshipment of cargo. In Rodman, the studies conducted consider the possibility of building a petroleum refinery and in Farfan a new cargo terminal. http://www.eclac.cl/transporte/perfil/stataec.asp