Panama Canal Authority

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Administration building

The Panama Canal Authority ( Spanish Autoridad del Canal de Panamá , ACP ; English Panama Canal Authority , PCA ) is the authority of the State of Panama , based in Balboa , which administers and operates the Panama Canal .

Basics

The Panama Canal Authority is an independent legal entity. In German terminology, it would be called an institution of (Panamanian) public law . It is based on Title XIV (Art. 315 - 323) of the Panamanian Constitution.

The highest body is the Board of Directors (Junta Directiva - Board of Directors), which consists of eleven directors. The Chairman of the Board of Directors is appointed by the President of the Republic and he is also Minister for Canal Affairs. Nine directors are appointed by the president and his cabinet with the consent of parliament, one director is appointed by parliament alone. The term of office of the directors is nine years. The PCA has an Advisory Board (Junta Asesora - Advisory Board) consisting of 18 people from different countries who are appointed for two years.

The business of the PCA is managed by an administrator (Administrador) and his representative in accordance with the instructions of the Board of Directors. The administrator represents the ACP externally. He is appointed by the Board of Directors for a term of seven years.

The head office is located in Balboa in Administration Building No. 101, the traditional seat of the canal administration since 1914.

tasks

While the canal itself is inalienable property of the Panamanian people, the PCA is responsible for the administration, operation, maintenance and maintenance as well as modernization of the canal. The ACP has its own assets and independent administrative powers. The PCA's responsibility also extends to the waters, lakes and their tributaries belonging to the canal. Details are regulated in an organization law. The PCA is bound by the provisions of the Agreement on the Neutrality of the Canal, which is part of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties signed on September 7, 1977 between the USA and Panama .

present

The Chairman of the Board of Directors is (as of June 2013) Roberto Roy, who is also Minister for Canal Affairs. Jorge L. Quijano , an engineer who has been managing the canal since 1975, has been the canal's administrator since 2012 . He succeeded Alberto Alemán Zubieta on September 4th , who held this office for 16 years. The ACP has around 9,000 employees. The PCA is not only active in sewer management, but also supplies electricity and 95% of the drinking water for the cities of Colón, Panamá, San Miguelito and, in the future, Chorrera. By far the biggest task of the PCA is the expansion of the canal with the construction of new locks, which were completed in 2016, as well as the construction of the Atlantic Bridge , a cable-stayed bridge at the Atlantic end of the canal.

According to the 2011 annual report, PCA had total revenues of 2,318 million Balboa (= US dollars), of which 1,730 million Balboa channel fees. The annual net profit was 1,229 million Balboa. 12,989 ocean- going vessels , 6,918 of which are Panamax- class, and 1,695 other ships crossed the canal in the 2011 financial year. The tonnage carried grew by 7.3% to 322.1 million PCUMS (units of the Panama Canal Universal Measurement System).

history

The Panama Canal Authority was established on December 27, 1997. The first meeting of its Board of Directors took place on February 12, 1998. After a transition period in which the canal was jointly managed with the Panama Canal Commission, the PCA assumed sole responsibility and management on December 31, 1999.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The article is largely based on information on the PCA website: http://www.pancanal.com
  2. ↑ TITLE XIV: THE PANAMA CANAL (PDF; English)
  3. ↑ Art. 13 of the Organization Act
  4. ↑ Advisory Board of the PCA
  5. ↑ Art. 22 ff of the Organization Act
  6. ↑ Headquarters of the PCA
  7. ↑ Art. 315 of the Constitution of Panama
  8. ↑ Article 316 of the Constitution of Panama
  9. ↑ Ley No. 19, Ley Orgánica dated June 11, 1997
  10. ↑ Quijano's biography on the ACP homepage (English)
  11. ↑ Press release of the PCA from September 4, 2012 (English)
  12. ↑ Electricity u. PCA water supplies
  13. ↑ Channel expansion ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pancanal.com
  14. ↑ see also English Wikipedia
  15. ↑ Panama Canal Universal Measurement System (PC / UMS) Conversion Chart www.convert-me.com
  16. ↑ Historical milestones of the transition period

Coordinates: 8 ° 57 '34.1 "  N , 79 ° 33' 17.8"  W.