The Panama Canal Authority has announced that it will increase the number of daily vessel transits through the key waterway from 32 to 33 with effect from July 11.
The authority made the announcement in a shipping advisory on Tuesday.
“This number will increase to 34 as of July 22, following the current and projected level of Gatun Lake for the coming weeks, and due to the arrival of the rainy season in the Panama Canal Watershed,” the authority said.
With these progressive increases, by July 22 the canal will have added two transits to the current schedule: one to the Panamax locks, raising the daily transits to 25; and one to the Neopanamax locks, increasing daily transits to nine. It also announced an increase in draft from 13.7 to 14 metres with effect from June 15.
The authority added that it is monitoring weather conditions on a daily basis to implement necessary operational actions in the event of increased rainfall in its watershed.
