Panama Canal to Increase Transits to 36

The Panama Canal Authority plans to increase transits to 36 daily allowing conditions to fully normalize in 2025. The Canal plans to gradually ease transit restrictions. Currently 27 daily transits are allowed. Rainy season will improve the level of the lakes and current forecasts indicate that steady rain will arrive at the end of April and continue for the following months. More than three quarters of the ships that are waiting to transit the Panama Canal today have reservations and, therefore, will transit on a predetermined date with a minimum waiting time,” says the ACP. The Canal adds that the average waiting time for ships arriving without reservations this year has been just less than 2.5 days, much lower than the 3.6 days experienced between January and March of last year, and the 3.8 days recorded during the same period in 2022. The outlook and projections indicate that the rains will increase in intensity after April and the Canal will progressively increase transits again until reaching 36 ships per day through the channel.  If the rains do not meet expectations, new restrictions on daily passage or draft could be maintained or applied.  Either way, the canal is a winner.