Panama Canal traffic spike
The Panama Canal Authority downplayed a report that an LPG vessel paid $4 million to skip the transit queue, saying the number reflected temporary market conditions as the Iran war shifted trade patterns. (reuters.com) Canal traffic is running at roughly 36–38 daily transits and some unbooked vessels are facing waits of more than three days as shipments reroute amid higher demand. (energynewsbeat.co)
A ship paid millions for a faster Panama Canal crossing as traffic surged in April and the canal authority said the spike came from temporary market conditions. (usnews.com) The Panama Canal Authority said on April 16 that a reported $4 million payment by a liquefied petroleum gas vessel came from an auction, not a canal-set fee. It said bids rise with customer urgency, freight rates, bunker prices, and global supply and demand. (usnews.com) The canal already sells reserved transit slots in advance, and vessels without bookings can wait in line for open capacity. On April 9, the authority also changed its booking system to add possible extra slots for some vessel classes and to offer late openings with less than 48 hours’ notice. (pancanal.com, pancanal.com) The bottleneck is showing up just as trade flows are shifting. Reuters reported that the Iran war has pushed more cargo toward the canal, while maritime data cited by Energy News Beat showed U.S. crude moving through Panama at more than 200,000 barrels a day in the first half of April, near a four-year high. (usnews.com, energynewsbeat.co) That matters because the canal is built around tight daily limits, not an unlimited first-come line. The Panama Canal Authority says its maximum sustainable capacity is about 36 to 38 vessels a day, with Panamax locks handling 34 to 36 and Neopanamax locks 9 to 11 depending on vessel mix and restrictions. (pancanal.com) The canal has spent the past year trying to make those slots more predictable for shippers. In September 2025, it rolled out LoTSA 2.0, a long-term slot program for Neopanamax vessels that shifted from 12-month packages to two six-month cycles and cut average daily slots in that program from four to three. (pancanal.com) The authority’s public line is that auctions are a last-minute tool, not the main pricing system. It said they are used mainly by customers seeking certainty close to sailing time, and it added that published wait-time data can overstate real delays because some ships arrive before their reserved transit window. (usnews.com) For now, the canal is still moving traffic, but at a price that can swing sharply when one route becomes more valuable than the alternatives. The April auction did not change the canal’s official tolls, but it showed what carriers will pay when timing through Panama suddenly matters more. (usnews.com, pancanal.com)
