Panama Canal to increase daily slots  

Advisory to Shipping A-08-2024 allows two additional slots to be offered through auction for transit dates beginning 18 March and an additional slot will become available for transit dates beginning 25 March.

ACP said vessels that want to transit the Canal now have a better chance of obtaining a reservation.

Panama Canal specialists are closely monitoring the current water situation, and the measures announced and published in the Advisory note will remain in effect until conditions warrant changes.

The ACP may also increase the number of slots offered through auction depending on the Gatun Lake´s level projections.

Severe drought has forced the Canal authorities to impose limits on vessel transits through the Panama Canal. In 2023, historically high temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, exacerbated by the presence of the El Niño phenomenon, has delayed the start of the rainy season in Panama resulting in a significant decrease in the levels of freshwater in the Canal’s reservoirs. 

But rainfall in the final quarter of 2023 enabled the postponement of further restrictions to January this year.

Last month, the Deputy Administrator for the Panama Canal Authority, Ilya Espino, told Reuters that the Canal does not anticipate further vessel transit restrictions until at least April.