Panama Canal Has a 3-in-1 Day

The Panama Canal successfully transited three LNG vessels through its Neopanamax locks on April 17, 2018, marking a first for the waterway.

The Clean Ocean, Gaslog Gibraltar, and Gaslog Hong Kong vessels first arrived at the Canal from the Pacific Ocean then transited north, departing on the Atlantic side.

The development marks a significant milestone for the Panama Canal and its service of the burgeoning LNG segment, which began transiting the waterway for the first time following the inauguration of the expanded Canal. The segment has seen steady growth in the nearly two years since.

Currently, the Panama Canal offers one of the seven Neopanamax reservation slots available per day specifically to LNG shippers, which currently average five transits per week. However, during periods of high seasonal demand, the waterway has transited two vessels in one day on 14 separate occasions.

In this fiscal year, as of March 2018, the Canal has locked 134 LNG transits.