Despite the well-publicised drought that hampered its capacity, container vessel transits through the Panama Canal this year barely showed a dip, thanks to the carriers’ deep pockets.
According to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP)’s full-year 2024 results, while movements of all vessel types fell 29.4% year on year, to 9,926 up to the end of September, containership transits were basically unchanged, at 2,733 – a reduction of just 14, equating to a 0.5% drop.
However, these figures are for both the original locks and the neo-panamax locks which opened in 2014 – and containership movements through the latter increased, to 1,787, a gain of 2.1% over 2023. This meant the proportion of containerships to total vessels increased from around 20% to 26%.
The drought from a lack of rainfall began to impact water levels in the canal in the early months of last year, reached a nadir towards the end of 2023 and the authority warned transits could be slashed by as much as 50% by February this year.
However, careful water management and a welcome return of rain this year has seen ACP now offering 35 daily transits, slightly below its design capacity of 36 to 38.
Meanwhile, in a speech given to the New York Maritime Forum yesterday, ACP administrator Ricaurte Vasquez said the organisation’s efficiency measures in response to the drought had resulted in 1% reduction in vessel wait times. That translated to an average of 15 hours less wait, a 1% reduction in transit times from when a vessel arrives at the first lock until it exits the last one, a 4% reduction in time spent in the canal, with an average decrease of 16 hours, and a 5% reduction in water usage per transit for neo-panamax vessels.
And despite the reduced traffic, ACP saw 2024 revenue increase 9%, to $3.5bn, up from $3.2bn the year before.
