Panama Maritime Court

About Maritime Courts in Panama

Panama has two specialized Courts for controversies arising in the maritime sphere. The Panamanian Law allows Panamanian Maritime Courts to have jurisdiction and competence over international maritime causes where the parties involved, including the ship, are international subjects.

The specialized regulations that Panamanian maritime courts have and the traffic of thousand of vessels through the Panama Canal, allows that maritime international community finds in the Panamanian courts the possibility of arresting ships and sue foreign companies within the Panamanian jurisdiction and present different types of claims in maritime subject for breach of chartering contracts, freight damage, wages and allowances of marines, salvage awards, debts arising from fuel supplies and other needs supplied to ships.

Panamanian Law allows arrests to be carried out to Panamanian flag ships and for the execution of maritime liens through the in rem action, namely, creditors will find in Panama the possibility to bring claims directly to the ship, constituting a caution of thousand U.S. dollars (US$1,000.00) and consigning a deposit of US$2,500.00 to cover custody expenses and maintenance of the abducted ship. Both sums are recovered at the end of the process.

Advantage of Maritime Courts:

• Available 24 hours 7 days a week
• Specialized in maritime matters, fully bilingual.
• Agile and dynamic evidential system (Discoveries – system from the Federal Civil Rules of the United States of America.)
• Facility to obtain cautions through the interposition of precautionary actions to ensure payment of any eventual conviction
• More accessible litigation costs than the rest of the international maritime jurisdictions aware of maritime causes
• Presence in the country of experts in maritime matters (appraisers, naval officers, agents, pilots, port activity, Shipyards etc.) due to the intense maritime activity of the country.

Let us evaluate your claim and the chances for your claim to be served in Panama, contact us.