Bid to operate Panama ports

Hutchison-owned Hong Kong International Terminals (HIT) has won a preliminary bidding round to operate Panama's two main ports, port officials say.

HIT offered an annual US$22.2 million fee to the Panama Government to operate the Cristobal port on the Atlantic coast and Balboa port on the Pacific from 1997.

The ports, which handle 200,000 and 28,000 containers per year, are due to be turned over to Panama by the United States in 1997.