The Panamanian State merges all its maritime management units, in 1998, through Decree Law 7 of February 10, creating the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) as the governing body of the country’s maritime activity, it is also the Institution that manages the registration process worldwide. In these moments when the digital age is causing a profound transformation in society, the AMP will lead its own technological change and readjust its production processes according to market trends.
The Minister of Maritime Affairs, Arch. Noriel Araúz, is in charge of carrying out the reengineering of the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) and the Panama Ship Registry, for this he has the support of the State, the shipowners and seafarers.
Minister Araúz indicated that operating under the auspices of the Panamanian government makes the AMP an organization with all the diplomatic, political and economic tools necessary to guarantee clients, worldwide, that their ships and naval mortgages are protected at all times.
This strength has ensured that over the years, regardless of conflicts, wars, economic crises, pandemics and other types of events, Panama has not suspended its maritime services, nor abandoned its seafarers, nor its ships at any time, being this a key factor for the sustainability of the flag business.
However, technology forces us to innovate, change strategies, policies and routine methods, to focus on providing new products, business opportunities, processes, financial strategies and, above all, on being closer to our customers.
In this regard, when facing a technological transformation we depend fundamentally on people and the organizational culture, since the challenge of transformation has very little value if the professionals, protagonists of this scenario, are not prepared or willing to do the work.
That is why, said Minister Araúz, that the keystone of the success of this great project that I must carry out is undoubtedly “teamwork”, which we are strengthening through continuous training, identifying and improving the experience of the AMP staff, applying a collaborative training plan based on new technologies, to make it attractive, interactive and easy to use.
This effort goes hand in hand with the creation of new policies to guarantee the support of the maritime industry, particularly with regard to the protection of the environment; the search for more efficient machinery and technologies as well as the safety and preservation of life at sea.
An undeniable sign that we are on the right track is that the actions carried out since the beginning of the present management in the AMP, in order to be more competitive and efficient, in accordance with the demands of the current international market, through a technological reengineering, are already paying off, this being evident in the statistics at the end of 2020.
• The Panama Ship Registry added some 1,033 ships to its fleet and 29.7 million GRT, of which 339 ships correspond to newly built ships that contribute 14.3 million GRT to our fleet, which in its totality reaches 230,577,081 GRT, through the 8,516 vessels registered under the Panamanian flag. These figures represent a growth of 6.22%, compared to the 2019 figures.
• In the last 6 months, the General Directorate of the Public Registry of Ship Property has registered 920 property titles and 739 naval mortgages.
• The General Directorate of Ports and Auxiliary Maritime Industries, set a new record regarding the mobilization of containers in Panamanian ports, reaching 7.73 million TEUs, (standard measure equivalent to a 20-foot container), exceeding the end of 2019 by 5.3%.
• The General Directorate of Seafarers historically achieved the recovery of USD $ 2,021,691.29 in wages owed by the shipowners to seafarers, as a result of the processing of 427 labor complaints, in addition 539 repatriations were executed pertaining to abandoned crew members on Panamanian flag vessels, in various parts of the world, reaffirming our commitment to the application of the 2006 Maritime Labor Convention as amended.
• Obtaining these results at a time of global health crisis has not been an easy task, it could not have been achieved, without the strategies and technological innovations that we have been applying since the beginning of this administration, along with the professionalism and hard work of our human capital.
Today, we celebrate our 23rd anniversary aimed at realizing the vision we have to transform the future of maritime navigation, jointly with the solid support and teamwork collaboration, we will succeed in making the Republic of Panama, through the AMP, become consolidated as a global maritime power as well as a role model for other Flag Registries around the world.
