The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has upped the maximum authorised draft allowed for vessels transiting the larger neopanamax locks by 30 cm to 14.94 m as it gets back to normal operations following more than a year of drought-linked difficulties.
The canal increased daily transits to 35 slots on Monday with plans to get to 36 transits next month.
Bulker transits through the Panama Canal hit 7.2m dwt in July, the highest level since October last year, on the back of steadily increasing transit slot availability, something Clarksons Research described in a recent report as “encouraging news” for exporters ahead of the forthcoming US grain harvest.
The ACP has given itself a six-year deadline to complete the construction of a giant $1.6bn new reservoir along the Indio river to help provide water security in the years ahead so that the vital waterway can maintain a minimum of 36 transits a day.