PANAMA'S Supreme Court has ruled that key port concession contracts held by CK Hutchison's subsidiary Panama Ports Company are unconstitutional, casting doubt over the Hong Kong conglomerate's planned $23 billion global port sale to a BlackRock-led consortium.

The court found that laws underpinning the concession for the development, construction, operation and management of container terminals at Balboa and Cristobal—located at the Pacific and Atlantic entrances to the Panama Canal—violated the constitution after "extensive deliberation."

The ruling throws into question the fate of the Panamanian terminals, which were included in CK Hutchison's proposed sale to a consortium led by BlackRock and Mediterranean Shipping Company.

The decision comes amid intensifying US-China competition over global trade routes.

US President Donald Trump had welcomed the proposed sale as a victory for American interests, as it would shift the assets to majority US ownership. China, however, had threatened to block the deal and pushed for state-owned Cosco Shipping to take a controlling stake.

Panama Ports Company has operated the terminals since the 1990s under contracts that critics argued disadvantaged Panama. The country's attorney general had previously deemed the contracts unconstitutional.

The ruling could force Panama to overhaul its legal framework for port concessions and potentially require new tenders.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino said in July that public-private partnerships could assume control of the ports if contracts were invalidated. Ensuring uninterrupted operations remains critical, as Panama serves as a key transshipment hub handling about 5% of global maritime trade.