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By Resolution JD No. 027-2008 or the 21st of January, 2008, the Board of Directors of the Maritime Authority of Panama (AMP) granted its Administrator the sole power to issue Licenses of Operation to any individual or legal entity to provide auxiliary maritime services within port areas within the territory of the Republic of Panama or its territorial waters or any of the areas under the authority of the AMP, subject to compliance with the conditions established for the given activity in the Regulation for Granting Licenses of Operation of Auxiliary Maritime Services.
Auxiliary maritime services comprise the following business activities, to wit:
1. Lighterage transporting personnel, crew, pilots, equipment, tools and spare parts to be used by the legal entity or the individual authorized to provide given services under a License of Operation (Self-service).
2. Boatage transporting passengers to vessels anchored in territorial waters of the Republic of Panama.
3. Transporting passengers by sea.
4. Repairs, maintenance services, remodeling or restructuring boats on the sea or sections under the sea.
5. Providing vessels with all necessaries for consumption on the vessels by the passengers or the crew, such as food, water, medicines, spare parts, tools, cleaners and accessories for use in the vessels.
6. Transporting and providing fuel, lubricants and petroleum derivatives in vessels.
7. Transporting sand or any other mineral and building materials.
8. Collecting waste and trash from vessels present in territorial waters.
9. Overland transportation to carry the waste from vessels out of the port facilities where it may be.
10. Treatment and final disposal of waste arising from vessels, which includes water treatment, trash and waste of vessels and trach incineration facilities regardless of the place where they may be located.
11. Receiving any kind of toxic substances considered dangerous or contagious under national regulations and international conventions, and providing assistance to vessels in handling those substances.
12. Assistance in navigation in ship maneuvers with tugboats and services of assistance and rescue provided permanently.
13. Mooring and unmooring vessels in maritime or port facilities.
14. Repairs and maintenance of containers.
15. Ship agent and any other services as intermediary for the vessel.
16. Fumigation, disinfection, rat extermination and elimination of pathogen vectors in vessels.
17. Pilotage.
18. Inspection of the status of packing, stevedoring, loading and unloading merchandise, of the condition and quality thereof in port and on board the vessel.
19. Any other maritime auxiliary services compatible with maritime port activities.
The Licenses of Operation are granted for a term of ten (10) years. In order to keep them valid, the individual or the legal entity has to make timely payment of the annual rate established for the kind of services it covers. In addition, the bearer of the license must keep the insurance policy covering civil liability in force and effect, as wel as the guarantee bond which may be deposited in cash or certified check or cashier’s check, and keep complying with all of the obligations stipulated in the resolution that granted the license of operation or provided in legislation or in special regulations. Furthermore, any change in the structure of the legal entity or change in its legal name must be contemplated as well as its contact data and the contact data of the individual if such is the case.
On the other hand, during the procedure of evaluation of the application, the interested party may apply for a provisional permit of operation valid for three (3) months. This provisional permit costs one thousand five hundred U.S. dollars (US$1,500.00) non- refundable.
We shall be glad to provide any additional information you may be interested in, or any assistance required in processing applications before the General Directorate of Ports and Auxiliary Maritime Industries of the Maritime Authority of Panama, by addressing your questions or requests to our electronic mail address, to wit:
