Panama Canal disruptions are worsening. Wait times for vessels without reservations have surged this month.
In response to drought conditions, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) cut the number of daily reservation slots from 32 at the beginning of November to 24 currently. Slots will drop to 22 on Friday, then to 18 by February 1.
If enough ships don’t divert from the Panama Canal to offset the drop in reservation slots, the number of ships without reservations rises – as does wait time.
The average wait time for ships without a reservation for Atlantic-to-Pacific (southbound) transits was 2.1 days at the beginning of November. As of Wednesday, it was over five times that – 11.4 days – according to ACP data.
The maximum wait on for southbound transits hit 22.8 days on Sunday, triple the maximum wait at the beginning of the month.
Read more in an article from American Shipper.