Panama Canal to Cut Daily Transit Slots From September as Rainfall Falls Short
Neopanamax slots drop to nine a day and Panamax slots to 23, while planned draught cuts are pushed back to October.
The Panama Canal will cut its daily transit slots starting 3 September, citing rainfall in the canal watershed that has come in below expectations despite the onset of the rainy season.
Daily Neopanamax Lock slots fall to nine, while Panamax Lock slots drop to 25 initially and then to 23 from 15 September. The Panama Canal Authority is also splitting its daily auction slots into four cargo pools from 3 September, separating gas carriers, dry bulk and general cargo, boxships and car carriers, and tankers into their own booking queues rather than one shared list.
Within the container segment, the authority is prioritising the highest-teu-capacity full vessels for Neopanamax Lock allocation, using customer ranking as a tiebreaker where capacity is equal. Customers who have already secured a booking slot for a given transit date — through LoTSA, NetZero or a prior allocation — will not be eligible for an additional slot on the same date unless no other competitor exists, though that restriction does not apply to slots won at auction.
One piece of good news sits inside the announcement: planned draught restrictions have been pushed back. The maximum authorised draught of 14.63 metres TFW at the Neopanamax Locks, originally due to take effect on 26 August, is now deferred to 2 September. A further cut to 14.48 metres, previously set for 3 September, moves to 1 October. That gives operators an extra week or more of deeper draught allowance even as slot numbers tighten.
The authority said reduced daily transits are likely to lengthen waiting times for vessels without a reservation, and urged customers to book through the Transit Reservation System to guarantee a transit date rather than risk the spot queue. The watershed's rainfall shortfall follows a pattern that has become familiar since the severe 2023-24 drought forced deeper cuts to canal traffic — smaller, more frequent adjustments to slots and draught rather than a single crisis-level restriction, but a recurring reminder that the canal's capacity is ultimately set by how much rain falls in its own catchment.
