Panama Canal News

Fees for vessels to pass through the Panama Canal this year are 15% below last year's levels as the waterway now has more capacity to move cargoes, the head of the Panama Canal Authority, Ricaurte Vasquez, said on Wednesday in a video conference.A severe drought between late 2023 and early 2024 forced the world's second busiest waterway to impose passage restrictions that prompted long waiting lines and higher transit fees.

U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed a deal led by U.S. firm BlackRock to buy most of the $22.8 billion ports business of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison which includes assets along the Panama Canal.The deal will give the U.S. consortium control of key Panama Canal ports amid White House calls to remove them from what it says is Chinese ownership. The high purchase price sent CK Hutchison's stock up more than 20%."My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we've already started doing it," Trump told the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump has postponed a phone call with Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino due to last-minute changes in the U.S. leader's agenda, Panama's government said on Friday, amid tensions over U.S. threats to take over the Panama Canal.Panama's foreign office will share details on the new date once it has been coordinated, the government said.Mulino has accused the U.S. of spreading "lies and falsehoods" after its government claimed its vessels would be able to pass through the Panama Canal without paying.He has also rejected claims that China controls the canal…

Panama President Jose Raul Mulino said on Thursday the U.S. was spreading "lies and falsehoods" after the State Department claimed U.S. government vessels would be able to pass through the Panama Canal without paying.The comments were likely to exacerbate tensions between the two countries after the U.S. had cited progress on military cooperation and confronting alleged Chinese influence over the canal.Later, Mulino added on social media that he would speak to U.S. President Donald…

Between September 2024 and January 2025, ship capacity in deadweight tonnes transiting through the Panama Canal was 10% lower than the 2019-22 average.Although there were no transit restrictions during this period, transits of dry bulk, LNG and, to a lesser extent, tankers have not recovered to their historical levels, says Filipe Gouveia, Shipping Analysis Manager at BIMCO.Between June 2023 and September 2024, transits through the Panama Canal were restricted due to low water levels in the Gatun Lake.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday warned Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino that Washington will "take measures necessary" if Panama does not immediately take steps to end what President Donald Trump sees as China's influence and control over the Panama Canal.Mulino, after the talks with the top U.S. diplomat in Panama City, signaled he would review agreements involving China and Chinese businesses, and announced further cooperation with the U.S. on migration, but…

Some U.S. lawmakers and officials are touting a nearly half-century-old treaty between the United States and Panama to justify the Trump administration's threat to reclaim the Panama Canal - provided it can show the strategic waterway's operation is under threat.Others, however, say hurdles would loom for any bid to use the 1977 Panama Canal Neutrality Treaty, which took effect in 1999 and guarantees that the canal would remain neutral and open to all ships from all countries, as a pretext for the U.S. to seize it.The 82-km (51-mile) waterway's construction was completed by the U.S.

When Marco Rubio arrives in Latin America this weekend on his first foreign trip as Donald Trump's secretary of state, he'll find a region reeling from the new administration's shock-and-awe approach to diplomacy.In the first days of Trump's second term, the new president has doubled down on his intention to reclaim the Panama Canal, angered Brazilians by returning migrants in shackles and briefly imposed crushing sanctions and tariffs on Colombia in a tussle over deportee flights.Rubio's…

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday expressed alarm at China's influence on the Panama Canal, which President Donald Trump has vowed the United States would take back."Chinese companies are building a bridge across the canal – at a slow pace so as to take nearly a decade – and control container ports at either end," Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz said at a hearing on the canal's role in U.S. trade and national security."The partially-completed bridge gives China the ability to block the canal without warning…

President Donald Trump vowed again that the United States would take back the Panama Canal as he delivered an inauguration speech in which he invoked the 19th century expansionist doctrine of "Manifest Destiny."Doubling down on his pre-inauguration threat to reimpose U.S. control over the canal, Trump again accused Panama of breaking the promises it made for the final transfer of the strategic waterway in 1999 and of ceding its operation to China - claims that the Panamanian government has vehemently denied."We didn't give it to China.

Hundreds of Panamanians marched on Thursday to mark the anniversary of a deadly uprising against U.S. control of the Panama Canal in 1964, with some protesters burning an effigy of President-elect Donald Trump who has threatened to retake the vital global waterway.More than 20 Panamanians, many of them students, died during violent clashes across the country in January 1964, which escalated after U.S. security forces opened fire in response to mass demonstrations against the U.S. presence in the country and control of the canal. At least three U.S.

The Panama Canal Authority could double in coming years the number of containers that move through the commercial waterway that links the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, the canal's chief told a maritime conference.The authority, which has an $8 billion investment plan, is putting in place a water conservation strategy following a severe drought that forced ships between late 2023 and early 2024 to take alternative routes between the United States and Asia.As part of that, it is encouraging shippers to consolidate cargoes so less water is used for vessels to pass…

The MSC Marie transited through the Panama Canal on August 30, setting a new record for the largest-capacity container ship to sail the route.The 366-meter (1,200 feet) Neopanamax ship has a width of 51 meters (167.4 feet) and a maximum capacity of 17,640 TEUs.The record was previously held by the Ever Max which made the transit at a capacity of 17,312 TEUs in August 2023.The MSC Marie sailed from the port of Manzanillo in Mexico.

The Panama Canal Authority announced on Monday it is raising to 49 feet the maximum authorized draft allowed for vessels transiting the key global waterway's Neopanamax locks.The previous maximum depth allowed for the Neopanamax locks was 48 feet.In a brief statement, the authority said the change was made due to "the present and projected level of Gatun Lake for the upcoming weeks."(Reuters - Reporting by Elida Moreno; Editing by Aida Perlaez-Fernandez)

The Panama Canal expects to complete a billion-dollar construction of a new water reservoir within six years that will help ensure the passage of 36 ships a day, the administrator of the global waterway said on Monday.The Indio River reservoir project would become part of the network of existing artificial lakes that allow for safe passage through the canal and provide water for human consumption."We are looking at six years," canal administrator Ricaurte Vasquez said.Vasquez said the project "would provide a little more certainty to maintain 36 transits per day…

Capacity reduction on the Panama Canal have hurt dry bulk market, with dry bulk carrier transits down significantly (down 74% in the Q1 '24 vs. '23, with sailing distances up 31% and cargo volume down 25% year on year, according to BIMCO shipping analyst Filipe Gouveia.Low water levels in lake Gatun have caused restrictions in the number of transits through the Panama Canal at a maximum draft level of 13.4m (44 ft). Under typical conditions, between 34 and 38 ships transit the canal per day at draught levels of 15.2m (50 feet). At the start of the year, only 22 daily transits were allowed.

In response to the current and projected level of Gatun Lake, the Panama Canal Authority has announced, through Notice to Shipping Lines No. A-08-2024, that it will increase the number of daily slots available in the Panamax locks.Two additional slots will be offered by auction for transit dates scheduled starting March 18, and one additional slot will be available for transits scheduled starting March 25. This will bring the number of transits from 24 to 27.These measures allow the majority of ships that wish to transit the Canal to have a better chance of obtaining a reservation…

The Panama Canal sees no need for further vessel transit restrictions until at least April, when its authority will evaluate water levels at the end of the dry season, Deputy Administrator Ilya Espino told Reuters.A severe drought last year forced the canal to reduce the number of vessels allowed to pass per day. In December, rains in the last quarter of the year allowed the waterway to suspend further restrictions that would have been applied in January.In recent months, attacks to ships at the Red Sea have prompted many vessel owners to take longer routes to and from Asia…

As low water level continue to plaque the Panama Canal, shipowners and managers are paying the price in the form of longer hauls and higher fuel (and emissions) costs to deliver product to market.In one example, oil tanker Cururo is taking the long way from Houston to Chile: sailing the length of South America's Atlantic coast, across the Strait of Magellan and heading up the Pacific coast before discharging.The voyage could take 32 days and travel more than 10,000 nautical miles (18…

Bulk grain shippers hauling crops from the U.S. Gulf Coast export hub to Asia are sailing longer routes and paying higher freight costs to avoid vessel congestion and record-high transit fees in the drought-hit Panama Canal, traders and analysts said.The shipping snarl through one of the world's main maritime trade routes comes at the peak season for U.S. crop exports, and the higher costs are threatening to dent demand for U.S. corn and soy suppliers that have already ceded market share to Brazil in recent years.

Wabtec Corporation and Latin American Channel Partner, Marinsa International, signed a contract to supply the primary power for 10 new hybrid tractor tugboats for the Panama Canal Authority (ACP). Wabtec will deliver two 8L250MDA marine engines for each tugboat.“Wabtec is delighted to power the new hybrid Panama Canal tugs with the 8L250MDA marine engines,” said Tammy Gromacki, Wabtec’s Vice President of Marine, Stationary and Drill. “We are honored, through our partnership with Marinsa…

The Panama Canal, one of the world's main maritime trade routes, announced on Friday it is launching a special auction slot on Saturday, as it battles a severe drought that has forced it to reduce daily ship crossings."The purpose of this measure is to provide greater opportunity of obtaining a slot for vessels in the Panamax Locks that have been waiting in the transit queue for an extended period," the canal's authority said in a statement.Water levels in Gatun Lake, the rainfall-fed principal reservoir that floats ships through the Panama Canal's lock system, have declined to unprecedented l

Daily ship crossings on the Panama Canal, one of the world's main maritime trade routes, will be reduced to 31 from 32 to soften the impact from a severe drought that is expected to last until next year, the authorities managing the canal said.The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in recent months has imposed various passage restrictions to conserve water, including cutting vessel draft and daily passage authorizations, which are normally 36 per day.ACP said late on Friday that due to the ongoing water crisis…