Thursday, April 5 2007

The Panama Canal will probably resist calls from shipping lines to spread out proposed toll increases, threatening profits for companies such as AP Moeller Maersk and Evergreen Marine Corp, analysts have said.

The Panama Canal Authority, or ACP, has received 21 submissions from companies and groups seeking to reduce or delay the new tariff system, according to its Web site.

The authority plans to raise fees by as much as 47 percent over three years to pay for expanding the 92-year-old waterway, the world’s busiest, handling about 5 percent of global trade.

Evergreen Marine Corp, CMA CGM SA and Wallenius AB are among owners who presented to the authority, according to the London-based International Chamber of Shipping.

Higher fees may further hurt container lines currently experiencing low rates as a result of surplus ship supplies.

“I don’t think they’ll have any success,’’ said Steven Brooker, an analyst in Copenhagen covering Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping company. “The canal authority would want to have the cash so that they can pay for the expansion, so why would they take the risk’’ of waiting any longer, he said.

ACP is reviewing the comments from its customers and will submit a recommendation to Panama’s cabinet council “in the coming weeks,’’ Marketing Director Rodolfo Sabonge said in an e-mail from Panama City.

Panama plans to invest $5.3 billion to double the handling capacity of the canal, linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, by 2014.

A vessel that can carry about 4,500 20-foot standard containers pays about $300,000 to transit the waterway, according to analysts.

“We would like the amount reduced or spread over a longer period,’’ International Chamber of Shipping Secretary General Tony Mason said in a telephone interview from London.