Panama, the Next Caribbean/Pacific Homeport

By Erica Silverstein

Major port developments in Panama City and Colon will soon make the country more attractive to both cruisers and cruise lines. With construction projects on both coasts, the Central American country wants cruise lines to consider it as a homeport for Panama Canal transits, as well as Caribbean and Pacific itineraries. Plentiful duty-free shopping, cultural and natural highlights, and an existing tourism infrastructure set Panama apart from its neighbors and give cruise travelers a reason to extend their stays.

COLON, A TAX-FREE SHOPPING HAVEN When the Panama cruise season restarts in fall 2021, cruise travelers visiting Colon will have more incentive to spend time off the ship. The Colón 2000 Duty Free shopping and leisure experience complex, opening at the end of 2021, will offer a state-of-the-art facility for shopping, dining, entertainment, and enjoying the waterfront.

Colón 2000 Duty Free center is being built between the city’s two cruise terminals. The high-end architecture firm Mallol has designed the complex with an open-air style, befitting its Caribbean location. It’s a project overseen by experts; Grupo Colón 2000 has spent more than 20 years studying the cruise tourist market in Panama and is building the shopping complex to meet the needs of international visitors.

Located in Colon’s tax-free shopping district, the mall will offer attractive discount prices on both local department store goods and international brands, such as Nike, Victoria’s Secret, and Calvin Klein. Tax-free shopping means low prices from the start, so visitors don’t have the hassle of filling out paperwork to get tax money back.

The facility will also offer a number of bars and restaurants, including ones serving local cuisine, a movie theater, Wi-Fi, ATM, and children’s play areas. Outdoor seating and walkways invite visitors to linger by the waterfront, savoring a coffee or chatting with friends from their ship.

The vision of the project is to enhance a cruise visitor’s experience during a daylong call or overnight pre- or post-cruise stay in Colon. Most cruisers are eager to visit the Panama Canal locks or explore the island’s natural places and cultural heritage, but the conveniently located Colón 2000 complex invites them to do a bit of shopping or grab a snack on the way from their tour bus back to the ship.

For repeat visitors and cruise guests who prioritize the onboard experience over busy bus tours, the facility offers an easy and safe spot to stretch their legs and enjoy some time off the ship without having to leave the port.

A NEW PORT IN PANAMA CITY On Panama’s Pacific coast, an even more ambitious construction project is underway – a new port. Currently, ships calling on Panama City must anchor and tender passengers to the Fuerte Amador marina. The situation is not ideal because the marina, which was never intended to be a proper cruise port, cannot accommodate larger ships.

The new port, located one island over along the Amador Causeway that leads to Panama City, will solve for these problems and create the opportunity for an embarkation and debarkation port on the Pacific side of Panama. Each of two 380-meter-long piers, once completed, will accommodate one neo-Panamax-sized ship.

The proposed terminal building will be able to handle homeport requirements (such as check-in and luggage handling), as well as transportation facilities to accommodate tours. The huge space will also house retail stores and restaurants – as with Colon – to offer everything cruise visitors will need.

Just 20 minutes to Casco Viejo, Panama City’s historic center, and a half hour to the Miraflores Locks Visitor’s Center, the new port is well situated to bring cruise visitors to Panama’s top attractions.

The first pier is expected to be completed before the start of the October cruise season, with the second pier and terminal facility slated to be finished over the following year.

WHY HOMEPORT IN PANAMA?

Currently, only a few cruise lines, such as Windstar and Norwegian Cruise Line, run cruises out of Panama. The combination of the new port facilities, government-based financial incentives, and Panama’s rich cultural and ecological heritage should make cruise lines take another look at the itinerary possibilities of sailing out of Colon or Panama City.

With the new port in place, the potential exists for a sailing that starts in Panama City, calls on ports on the Pacific Coast of Central America, then transits the Canal, visiting a few Caribbean islands before terminating in Colon. This type of unique itinerary allows cruise passengers to visit ports across two oceans and makes travel logistics easy with roundtrip flights into and out of the same airport. Tocumen International Airport has excellent airlift from the U.S., Europe, and Central and South America and is roughly an hour from either port.

For cruise lines, the incentive is even greater. The Panamanian government has agreed to reimburse a

percentage of the substantial Panama Canal transit fees to any cruise line that homeports in Panama and sails with at least 80 percent international tourists. The reimbursement is greatest (100%) in 2020, decreasing 10 percent each year through 2024, when the government will give back 60 percent of the tariff to homeporting cruise lines that meet the requirements.

Cruise lines can also consider homeporting in Panama City for voyages to the Galapagos islands, South and Central America. Colon lends itself to Caribbean itineraries, with or without a Canal transit at the beginning or end of the sailing.