The Panama Canal announced a new milestone with the successful transit of four LNG carriers through the neopanamax locks on 1st October. With this milestone, the Panama Canal breaks the record set on 17 April 2018, when three LNG vessels transited on the same day.
The four vessels were ‘Ribera del Duero Knutsen’ with cargo capacity 173,000 m3, ‘Maran Gas Pericles’ with cargo capacity 174,000 m3, ‘Torben Spirit’ with cargo capacity 173,000 m3 and ‘Oceanic Breeze’ with cargo capacity 155,300 m3.
As more than 4,200 neopanamax vessels transited the new locks, the Panama Canal modified its reservation system to offer up to two quotas per day for LNG vessels, which also allowed it to optimize capacity of the expanded Canal.
The new rules, announced in August of this year and came into force on 1 October, allow the night transit of LNG ships in the neopanamax locks, as well as the encounters of these vessels in Gatun Lake, in opposite directions.
The transit of these four LNG ships in a single day demonstrates the commitment of the Panama Canal to serve the industry with the highest standards of safety, efficiency and reliability, which has characterized its management as a point of connection between two oceans,
…said the administrator of the Canal, Jorge Luis Quijano.
With the modifications that came into effect this Monday, the Panama Canal ensures capacity to handle the growing demand for transit of LNG from the US once the different export terminals there come into operation.
