Panama Business

The Colon Free Zone

Colon is Panama’s main port for the import and re-export of merchandise, and is listed as the second largest import and distribution center in the world, the largest in the Western hemisphere.

No customs duties whatsoever are charged on all sorts of products, from raw materials to complex, sophisticated machinery -- they can be imported, stored, modified, distributed, processed, assembled, repacked and re-exported completely duty free. And no import license is required.

Colon, located at the Caribbean mouth to the Panama Canal, is serviced by air, highway, and train, and is about an hour’s drive from Panama City. In operation since 1948, the Colon Free Zone exported and/or transshipped nearly 14 billion dollars worth of goods in 2002 alone.