WGC: Panama to Transit LNG 24 hrs

WASHINGTON DC – The Panama Canal will start running round the clock from October 1 this year, said the deputy administrator Manuel Benitez. At the moment it can only transit LNG by daylight, which is about 12 hours in Panama, he told reporters at the World Gas Conference here June 26. This allows the possibility of booking a second slot in a day in either direction, he said.

"This is a tremendous boost for flexibility," he said, "and allows us to keep up with demand." The US is expecting to be exporting a lot more LNG in the coming decade from the Gulf Coast, creating more demand for more shipping to reach the west coast of South America, or east Asia. 

The primary concern of the Panama Canal Authority is safe transit, Benitez said, and only now, after two years, does it feel confident about lifting the precautionary measures it imposed at the beginning. And staff have had to be trained: only senior pilots can sail at night time. An LNG industry source told NGW that there had already been early morning trials and the news was expected. But he said the increase would allow 45mn mt/yr to sail through.

It takes 10 hours to transit the canal, although by sailing through in close succession, three tankers have sailed through in the same day this year; and two is not uncommon. There is also some spare capacity in the system: he said on one day, a total of 35 vessels arrived without a prior booking; and without paying extra, 30 of them went through the same day; and the other four waited three days and the fifth waited one day.