While Donald Trump’s talk of taking back the Panama Canal has been keeping Secretary of State Marco Rubio busy, tonnage through the waterway has recently been falling, says BIMCO. “Between September 2024
Image: Clarksons?BIMCO
While Donald Trump’s talk of taking back the Panama Canal has been keeping Secretary of State Marco Rubio busy, tonnage through the waterway has recently been falling, says BIMCO.
“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, tanker ships 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. There were restrictions to both the total number of transits and ship draft, and ships competed for limited transit slots. Sectors such as the container sector typically operate on fixed schedules which allow them to book the transit slots ahead of other ships. Non-bookable transit slots were
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