Maritime glossary · New Panamax
Neo-Panamax
A vessel sized to the expanded Panama Canal locks opened in 2016, with a beam up to 49 metres.
Definition
Neo-Panamax, or New Panamax, describes the largest ship that fits the expanded Panama Canal locks opened in 2016: about 49 m beam, 366 m length, and 15.2 m draught. The expansion roughly tripled the container capacity that can transit, up to around 14,000 TEU, and reshaped the trade routes between Asia and the US East Coast. Bulkers and tankers built to the new envelope carry the same label.
How Vessel Hunter uses Neo-Panamax
Canal and lock fit comes down to a few centimetres of beam and draught. Vessel Hunter keeps the dimensions on hand for the teams that route by them.
Related terms
- Panamax
A vessel sized to the original Panama Canal locks, with a beam limit of 32.31 metres.
- TEUTwenty-foot Equivalent Unit
The standard unit of container ship capacity, equal to one twenty-foot container.
- Container Ship
A ship built to carry standardised intermodal containers stacked in cell guides and on deck.
- Beam
The widest point of a vessel, the constraining dimension for lock chambers, dry docks, and some terminals.
The bigger picture
Neo-Panamax is one piece of the commercial maritime picture Vessel Hunter pulls together for shipyards, suppliers, service providers, and port agents. Every vessel record bundles AIS, ownership, inspections, dry-dock history, casualty record, classification status, and a verified contact for the operator decision-maker behind the ship, so the team that reaches out first wins the work.
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