At a time when Panamanian transport infrastructure is making regular headlines, Maersk’s ports arm APM Terminals has acquired the Panama Canal Railway Company (PCRC) from Canadian Pacific Kansas City and the Lanco Group/Mi‑Jack for an unspecified sum.
PCRC operates a 76 km single-line railway adjacent to the Panama Canal that mainly facilitates cargo movement between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 2024, the PCRC generated revenue of $77m and $36m in EBITDA with much business coming from Maersk who used the rail link during last year’s drought in Panama that stifled traffic along the country’s canal.
“The Panama Canal Railway Company represents an attractive infrastructure investment in the region aligned to our core services of intermodal container movement,” said Keith Svendsen, CEO, APM Terminals. “The company is highly regarded for its operational excellence and will provide a significant opportunity for us to offer a broader range of services to the global shipping customers we serve.”
Panama has been constantly in the news following Donald Trump’s return to power in the US, with the American president vowing to wrest back control of the Central American nation’s canal, while Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison has included two Panamanian ports in its planned $22.8bn sale of its non-Chinese ports to BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), a transaction China is keen to prevent.
