June 10 (Reuters) - The sale of two ports near the

Panama Canal to a global consortium led by Mediterranean

Shipping Company (MSC) threatens the canal's principle of

neutrality, the canal's head Ricaurte Vasquez told the Financial

Times.

"There is a potential risk of capacity concentration if

the deal comes the way it is structured as we understand right

now," Vasquez told the FT in a report published on Tuesday.

"If there is a significant level of concentration on

terminal operators belonging to an integrated or one single

shipping company, it will be at the expense of Panama's

competitiveness in the market and inconsistent with neutrality."

MSC is one of the world's top container shipping groups.

MSC and the Panama Canal Authority did not immediately respond

to a Reuters request for comment.

CK Hutchison ( CKHUF ) confirmed last month that MSC,

run by the family of Italian billionaire Gianluigi Aponte, was

the main investor in a group seeking to buy 43 ports, including

the two ports in Panama, for $22.8 billion.

The clarification follows weeks of scrutiny and

criticism in China over CK Hutchison's ( CKHUF ) plan to sell the ports to

a consortium, which was previously led by U.S. investment firm

BlackRock ( BLK ). BlackRock ( BLK ) remains part of the group.

The proposed sale has also drawn the attention of U.S.

President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his desire

to reduce Chinese influence around the Panama Canal and termed

the deal a "reclaiming" of the waterway after it was first

announced.

In April, China's top market regulator said it was

paying close attention to CK Hutchison's ( CKHUF ) planned sale and that

parties to the deal should not try to avoid an antitrust review.

Vasquez added that the canal should use the ports deal

as an opportunity to become a terminal operator itself by

reactivating a project to build a terminal in the Port of

Corozal at the Pacific end of the canal, according to the FT.