Svitzer Americas opens new regional HQ in Panama

The Panama Design Center (PDC) is welcoming new residents, as Svitzer Americas opens its new regional headquarters in Panama City as part of the company's ambition to move even closer to its customers and operations, and further strengthen its position in the region.

Svitzer Americas has been headquartered in Miami, US, for many years, but in early 2020 it was decided to relocate to Panama and move into the Panama Design Center, which also houses other entities of the Maersk Group including Sealand Americas, APM Terminals, Hamburg-Sud, Twill, and Maersk Liner Operations Clusters. While the opening has been long awaited, it takes place in accordance with local health and safety guidelines with regards to occupancy limitations.

Commenting on the relocation to Panama, Arjen van Dijk, Managing Director, Svitzer Americas said: “Panama is an important, strategic maritime hub with good infrastructure and easy connections to nearby countries and ports. For Svitzer, moving the regional headquarters to Panama will further strengthen our presence in the Americas region and bring us even closer to our customers and operations in the region.

"We see significant growth potential in the region within both harbour and terminal towage and moving the regional headquarters to Panama supports our growth ambitions. Furthermore, we will have access to recruiting some of the best people, as Panama in general has a large and very skilled and experienced workforce because of its position as a central hub for the maritime industry in the region.”

Svitzer Americas is heavily engaged in the region with harbour towage and terminal towage as the main segments. Svitzer Americas operates more than 80 vessels in ports and terminals in 12 different countries across the region and customers can thus benefit from a global ownership, presence and experience combined with in-depth regional and local knowledge.