Rain raises  draft of  transit vessels to 50 ft

The increase in rainfall in the Canal basin has raised the level of Gatun Lake above the level that it should have for the time of year. The Gatun’s elevation Wednesday was 85.7 feet or 0.26 feet above the level it should have for this date.

This water level allows the administration of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to offer the maximum draft, which is 50 feet, to Neopanamax vessels.

This June the Canal celebrates five years since the opening of the new locks, which has strengthened its role as a strategic route for world maritime trade, by attracting new customers, due to the service it offers.

On the container ship ONE Hawk of the Ocean Network Express (ONE) shipping company made its first transit through the Canal.

The container ship, with its unique magenta color, transited the new Canal locks as part of an Alliance service that covers the route between Asia and the East Coast of the United States.

The ONE Hawk traveled northbound, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, with a capacity of 14,167 TEU (unit of measurement of a 20-foot-long container).

The ACP reported that in its inaugural passage through the interoceanic route, the ONE Hawk received recognition from the Green Connection for using the green route of the Panama Canal, which means a shorter route, saving an estimated 4,500 tons of CO2, and in this way, it minimizes its environmental impact.

The route of the container ship includes calls at ports in China, South Korea, Colombia, New York, North Carolina, and Georgia, in the United States.

The main segment of the Canal business continues to be that of container ships that pass through the new locks. In the first six months of the Canal’s fiscal year (October 2020 to March 2021), the transits of 782 container ships or 40.9% of the neo-Panamax served in that period were counted.