Panama Business Offices Shut; Canal Closed Briefly : Latin America: The U.S. attack further strains a business community hurt badly by feuding over economic sanctions and Panama’s countermeasures.

American companies in Panama shut their offices Wednesday and checked on employees’ safety, as the U.S. military’s attack sent the Central American nation’s deeply troubled economy into chaos.

With sporadic fighting continuing, Panama’s main airport remained shut to commercial traffic, and the Panama Canal was closed for most of the day, its first combat-related closure in 75 years.

A spot check of U.S. companies, including Bank of America, Eastman Kodak and Citibank, found that none opened for business Wednesday. In addition, none reported harm to their employees or facilities.

“People were advised to stay home, and they did,” said Cynthia Stone, a public affairs director for Citibank, which operates nine branches in Panama with more than 200 employees, none American.

Senator Lines U.S.A., a San Francisco-based freight company, said early Wednesday that its ship, Asian Senator, was being held in Cristobal on the canal’s Atlantic side with a dozen Panamanian soldiers aboard. “What they want or intend to do, we have no idea,” said Juergen Taub, company president. “But it was supposed to sail today for Long Beach and the Far East.”

Later in the day, a Senator Lines employee remained uncertain of the vessel’s status. “We just want to get our ship out of there,” she said.

While U.S. businesses inside Panama tried to keep a low profile, foreign shippers scrambled to consider alternate routes for the cargoes of South American fruit, California almonds and other products headed toward the country’s famous 51-mile waterway.

The canal reopened before the day was over, however, easing fears. “It’s one thing if you’re carrying hockey pucks,” said John Dillon, vice president for traffic and sales at Chilean Lines in New York. “But fruit is perishable.”

The canal’s brief closure was just the latest shock to a business community that has been hurt badly by U.S.-Panamanian feuding that has involved American economic sanctions and Panama’s countermeasures, such as a partial freeze on bank assets.

“Because of the sanctions and restrictions on U.S. banks, there isn’t a lot we can do and there hasn’t been for some time,” said James H. Mitchell, a spokesman for the Bank of America in San Francisco, which had six Panama branches in the early 1980s but now operates just one.

U.S. officials expressed hope Wednesday that once the turmoil subsides, the long-term outlook for Panamanian business would improve.

“No one’s selling a lot of widgets today or tomorrow--but once you have an established democratic government, it will be a significant help” to business and investment, a State Department official said.

Operators of an 81-mile U.S.-Panamanian oil pipeline venture temporarily stopped pumping oil early Wednesday after Panamanian soldiers guarding its Pacific Ocean terminal were called back to their garrisons, said Joseph J. Ackell, senior vice president with Northville Industries Corp. of Melville, N.Y., the pipeline’s manager and co-owner.

During the 14-hour shutdown, about 300 pipeline workers, mostly Panamanian nationals, remained at their posts, he said. The pipeline itself--which carries Alaskan crude destined for East and Gulf Coast refineries--was not harmed.

A small quantity of crude oil, about 100,000 barrels per day, also moves through the canal on tankers. Analysts said any closure of the canal would not significantly affect crude supplies, however.

Still, fears that the Panama invasion might cause serious supply problems boosted prices of oil futures in early trading Wednesday. Prices generally fell back to opening levels after it became clear that the invasion would not seriously disrupt crude oil supplies.

For U.S.-based companies, the outbreak of hostilities created a nerve-racking atmosphere.

Eastman-Kodak, which has offices for marketing and warehousing to serve Panama and the Canal Zone, joined other enterprises in staying closed. “We told the employees to stay home. We’re going to continue to monitor the situation,” said Paul Allen, a spokesman for the Rochester, N.Y., company.

In the last year, Kodak has reduced its Panama staff from 125 employees to 100 employees, including one U.S. national, and relied more heavily on Miami as a distribution point for Latin America and the Caribbean, Allen said.

Transportation into the country, by water and air, was paralyzed for much of the day.

Commercial flights were canceled because of the continuing closure of the Panama City Airport. Lan Airlines and Varig Airlines, which fly non-stop between Los Angeles and Panama City, operate those flights only on the weekends, so they have not yet been affected.

Pan American World Airways, which has one flight daily from New York to Panama, has judged Panama to be so dangerous for the last three weeks that it has ordered crews to stay overnight in Costa Rica instead of Panama City.

In addition to airline disruptions, a number of cruise liners monitored the status of the Panama Canal with concern.

Holland America Lines rescheduled the Noordam, a ship leaving today from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., that normally stops at Gatun Lake in the Canal Zone. Instead, the ship will be rerouted through La Guaira, Venezuela.

“We are watching the situation hour by hour” said Jennifer Urquhart, vice president of marketing at New York-based Regency Cruises, which uses the canal frequently during its winter Caribbean schedule. “I am in touch with the State Department every hour.”

Yet even as the situation seemed to stabilize later in the day, many who once considered the Panama Canal a completely reliable route were shocked into considering new alternatives.

“There are no real contingency plans because nobody really figured the canal would be shut,” said Taub of Senator Lines.

Times staff writers Robert E. Dallos and Patrick Lee and researcher Tom Lutgen contributed to this story.