The Panama Canal has witnessed a historic surge in container ship traffic during the first five months of 2025, setting a new all-time record for vessel crossings, according to Alphaliner.
As informed, between January and May, over 1,200 container ships transited the canal in both directions, representing a 10.2% increase year-over-year. This figure also marks a 4.1% improvement over the previous record for the same period, which was set in 2022.
Driving this surge is the growing dominance of Neo Sub-Panamax container vessels, defined as ships with a TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) capacity between 7,500 and 10,000, Alphaliner finds.
These vessels alone accounted for more than a quarter of all container ship crossings through the canal so far in 2025. Notably, this segment recorded a 30.2% year-over-year increase, making it the primary contributor to the canal’s record-setting performance.
In contrast, container ship traffic through the Suez Canal has declined significantly. Crossings by vessels larger than 4,000 TEU have become increasingly rare. Even the traditionally strong Sub-Panamax segment has weakened, with monthly transits falling below 100 in May 2025, the lowest monthly figure since July 2024, Alphaliner concludes.
