Panama Canal improves transit and booking conditions

Nearly two years have passed since the Panama Canal Authority cut the number of vessels transiting the waterway. Thankfully, the drought is over and water levels are up. And now, the country is working on ways to futureproof with measures to reduce the impact of further possible droughts, GAC explains. 

The recent announcement that the Rio Indio Reservoir Project will receive the resources it needs to shore up Panama’s water supply is a cause for celebration. At a cost of up to $1.6 billion, it should help the Canal’s long-term sustainability, reliability and competitiveness whilst also ensuring that vital supplies to the local population are not at risk. But until its completion, scheduled for 2030, we have to use the Panama Canal as it is today in a way that secures a sustainable future, Alexei Oduber, Managing Director, GAC Panama, highlights. 

By March this year, water levels in Gatun Lake were about 87 feet – well above the five-year monthly average, enabling the Canal to boost its transit options with more booking slots as capacity returns to normal.

Since the start of 2024, an average of three booking slots per day have not been taken advantage of – and that represents a great opportunity for vessels to secure them without having to go through the auction process.

With only about 70% of available slots being used and higher customer ranking for vessels which previously struggled to secure slots without going to auction, bookings can be made through the standard process and at much lower cost.

This represents a major shift. Where once auctions were often the only way to get a slot with operators bidding against each other, they now have greater access to transit slots under both Period 1 (90 days prior to transit) and Period 2 (14 days prior to transit) reservation systems, and that enables them to plan earlier and cost-effectively, GAC informs.