The Panama Canal Authority has announced steps to ease the restrictions placed on transits through the waterway as the result of record low rainfall levels.
From late March, the organisation plans to increase daily availability by 12 per cent, after delaying the restrictions it planned earlier this year. It will add two additional transit slots in the week commencing March 18 and an additional one the following week.
It says this will give most vessels who want to transit the Panama Canal a better chance of getting a reservation.
According to the authority, the industry has adapted to the restrictions, with some vessels using a reservation system, some transhipping, and others diverting to alternative, longer routes.
