Ship Agency Services

Panama Canal Transits

• Booking System: Ships must reserve transit slots through the Panama Canal Authority’s (ACP) booking system, which operates on a first-come, first-served basis or via an auction for high-demand slots.
• Reservation Tiers: There are different reservation tiers based on ship size and type. Larger vessels (like Panamax or Neopanamax) may require higher priority slots.
• Advance Booking: Reservations can be made as early as one year in advance, especially for high-demand periods such as peak shipping seasons.
• Required Documents: Gathering of detailed information from the vessel on their size, cargo, and compliance with Panama Canal regulations during the booking process.
• Pre-Arrival Inspection: Coordination of mandatory inspections to ensure vessels meet canal safety and operational standards.
• Transit Scheduling: On time communication with captains and operators.
• Fees and Payments: Handling, structure and procedures of Transit fees and everything related to Panama Canal and local authorities.
• Optional Auction: In cases of high traffic, we have plenty of experience handling premium transit slots auctioned, with fees reaching millions of dollars for immediate access.
• Communication with ACP: As your agency we must maintain regular communication with the Panama Canal Authority to ensure a smooth transit process.

By recognizing that the Panama Canal represent a very important expense on most trade routes, our team concentrates efforts in providing the appropriate advice to our principals by professionally explaining the possible scenarios in terms of expected delays and costs when their vessels arrive to the Panama Canal for transit. This information certainly assists in minimizing costs when using the waterway and maintaining schedule integrity.

Panama Canal guidelines and regulations are continuously updated. We are cautious that our customers remain permanently informed on these changes. For easy references, we publish and keep updated a MiniGuide for Panama Canal.