The bidding to build and run a "mega-port" at Farfan, a former US Navy housing area adjacent to the former Howard Air Force Base, may be off. One of the three qualified bidders, Singapore PSA Corporation, which is already developing a commercial port at nearby Rodman, has dropped out of the competition. The other two companies, the partially Chinese state-owned China Overseas Shipping Corporation (COSCO) and the San Francisco-based Marine Terminals Corporation, are, according to La Prensa, considering teaming up to present the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) with a joint proposal. Many economists are predicting that the US economy is going to be in recession and that US imports from China will stagnate or decline for awhile, notwithstanding the Panama Canal Authority's referendum campaign predictions of a constant and steep growth over the coming 20 years. This is already reflected in a slight decline in US-bound containers going through the canal so far this year. That, plus the thawing of the Northwest Passage long before anyone had expected it, have the world maritime industry hedging its bets about the Panama Canal's importance. The bottom line may be that Panama won't get as good a mega-port investment deal as had been contemplated.