Arias, Fábrega & Fábrega has advised Global Bank Corporation in the financing granted to Melones Oil Terminal Inc. for the construction of the 2.1 million-barrel Melones Island Oil Terminal at the Pacific end of the Panama Canal.

As the Panamanian maritime industry prepares to face the changes involving the Panama Canal expansion, Melones Island terminal, a joint project between Panama City-based Marine Engineers and Kansas-based ATEC Steel, will make bunkering more efficient and Panama a major bunkering hub.

The new terminal located less than eight nautical miles from the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal is the first one of its kind in the country serving ships crossing the Panama Canal, away from the congestion of the canal waters and requiring no scheduling of the canal when bunkering. Melones Oil Terminal will allow up to four barges to be loaded simultaneously out of four separate storage tanks with independent pipelines.