The ACP has announced temporary modifications to its Transit Reservation (Booking) System for Neo-Panamax vessels which it said were to “to provide customers with greater flexibility and improve the distribution of available capacity across market segments and encouraging the efficient use of water resource.   One of the main changes will allow the same customer to secure more than one booking slot for the same date, as well as to book slots for two or more consecutive dates.       Each week, 63 booking slots will be made available for Neo-Panamax vessels, including for container ships (Full Container), at least five slots will be made available per booking date, allocated in accordance with the vessels’ Transit Teu Allowance (TTA).

In the LPG and LNG segments, there will be at least three slots per booking date for each segment, which will be allocated according to customer classification.

Meanwhile, for car carriers/ro-ro vessels, bulk carriers and other segments, a minimum of three weekly slots will be available, also allocated according to customer classification.

The changes will take effect on 30 August, for booking dates beginning 13 September.   Despite this relaxation of the booking system, restrictions relating to draught and the number of daily transits remain in place. The number of daily transits is expected to fall, from 36 to 34, on 3 September and then to 32 from 15 September, with eventual changes.   In recent weeks, the Panama Canal daily auction system has seen record payments for vessels without booking slots.

A ship carrying LPG paid $5.3 million - the highest auction price so far- to transit the Panama Canal faster, 1 September. In early August, another vessel, the 10,100 teu-container ship Seaspan Benefactor, paid $4.6 million at a daily auction and in April this year, another auction worth $4 million was paid by the gas carrier Gas Virgo.

“Demand to transit the Panama Canal has increased in recent months due to restrictions and tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, which have led to changes in transport routes for energy products such as oil, LPG and LNG. The value of time — particularly for energy cargoes tied to contractual delivery windows — can far exceed the auction price itself,” an ACP spokesperson told Seatrade Maritime News.   “The daily auction is not to skip the queue. But only to obtain a booking slot,” he said.

As of August 30, the vessels waiting to transit the Canal totalled 118, 107 with booking and 11 without booking; 30 vessels in the Neo-Panamax locks and 87 in the Panamax locks.   The number of vessels waiting to cross the canal is roughly equivalent to three-days of transits of the waterway and fairly typical for high season. During the 2023 El Nino effect queues went up to 150 vessels as daily transit numbers were restricted on the canal.      The Panama Canal Authority said in a statement that the average auction price between October 2025 and February 2026 was approximately $55,000. However, recent results were three times higher.

Draught restrictions are also in place on the canal and the waterway has been operating with a draught of 14.78 metres in the Neo-Panamax locks since 15 August, which was the third adjustment to the announced schedule: the draught was first reduced to 15.09 metres on 3 July, then to 14.94 metres on 24 July. Further draught reductions will take place on 2 September to 14.63 metres and to 14.48 metres on 1 October.