PANAMA MARITIME CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION - A LOOK THROUGH THE HISTORY
The main topics of the first ever Panama Maritime, back in 1993, were ‘The Panama Canal: Present and Future’ and ‘The Role of Open Registers in the 1990’s.
With this event, Panama made its first small step into the international maritime events calendar where it would now have to compete with the well-established and popular Posidonia in Greece, Norshipping in Norway and other maritime events in Cyprus, China and elsewhere, including the Connecticut Maritime Association’s annual conference in Stamford, Connecticut.
The second Panama Maritime event, held in February 1994, highlighted complaints about failures or boardings in the Panama Canal, and multimodal transport. The event also featured important sessions on maritime finance and caught the attention of the Panamanian Association of Maritime Law which then decided to hold this event every two years, so beginning a biennial tradition.
The third Panama Maritime, in February 1996, focused on ‘The Panama Canal after 1999’ and ‘The Canal in the XXI Century.’
The fourth event, in late September 1998, looked at the new Panama Maritime Authority that was created by Decree 7 on 10 February1998, and investigated the different maritime responsibilities carried out by the Public Administration.
The fifth Panama Maritime took place in February 2000. Its main topic was the process of handing over control of the Panama Canal from the United States to Panama. The brochures for this conference used the slogan ‘The Panama Canal: New Owners… New Rules Established.’ This event took place just eight weeks after the Canal was handed over to Panama and was the perfect opportunity to evaluate and discuss the changes and implementation of the new policies that affect the maritime sector under the Panamanian Administration of the Canal.
The sixth Panama Maritime, in February 2002, was jointly organized for the first time by the Maritime Chamber of Panama and the Panamanian Association of Maritime Law. The Centro Aventuras de Panama was hired as the administrative organizer.
The participation of the Maritime Chamber of Panama as a co-organizer of the event underlined the importance of Panama Maritime in bringing international prestige and recognition to the country for its maritime and service industries.
For the first time, in 2002, the ‘Excellence Award’ was created to honor those Canal users that have always supported Panama and helped it to develop its maritime industry. The first winner was Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines, an important Canal user and major player in the international merchant fleet.
The topics of this event were the position of Panama in the maritime industry, maritime procedural jurisdiction and alternative dispute resolution, the latter highlighting mediation and arbitration through a specially-devised mock arbitration.
The seventh Panama Maritime Conference & Exhibition took place in 2004 and once again the Panama Canal was the main topic, along with the relaunch of the International Maritime Mercantile Register, now under a new administration.
Besides the original organizers, the Panamanian Association of Maritime Law and the Maritime Chamber of Panama, the Panama Canal Authority and the Maritime Authority of Panama both stepped in to participate in the organization of this event.
The event, due to have taken place in February 2004 but delayed because of the presidential elections, eventually looked at the prognoses of the demand for a shipping route via the Panama Canal, the capacity and modernization of the Canal in the short and medium term, the Canal Extension Project, and the economic impact this would have on the route via Panama.
The eighth Panama Maritime, in February 2007, covered business opportunities ahead of the Canal expansion. It was organized by the Panama Canal Authority, the Maritime Authority of Panama, the Panamanian Association of Maritime Law and the Maritime Chamber of Panama.
The ninth Panama Maritime took place in February 2009 and covered a range of topics, including: the environmental responsibilities of the maritime industry, presented by the General Secretary of the International Maritime Organization, Efthimios Mitropoulos; mercantile marine law; new tools for the development of an Open Register; and the implementation of the Maritime Labor Convention 2006.
