PANAMA FLASH! | Panama City – July 1st, 2026
As part of the Panama Canal Authority’s (ACP) water management strategy to ensure the safe, reliable, and sustainable operation of the Canal under current hydrological conditions and considering the potential development of an El Niño phenomenon over the watershed in the upcoming months, the ACP will implement a draft reduction at the Neopanamax Locks. The ACP will continue to closely monitor lake levels and hydrological projections and will announce any additional operational adjustments as deemed necessary.
Accordingly, based on present and projected Gatun Lake levels for the upcoming weeks, the ACP announces that, effective July 24, 2026, the maximum authorized draft for vessels transiting the Neopanamax Locks will be 14.94 meters (49.0 feet) in Tropical Fresh Water (TFW). In addition, effective August 15, 2026, the maximum authorized draft will be adjusted to 14.78 meters (48.5 feet) TFW.
Scheduled Lane Outage at Gatun Locks and Modifications to the Transit Reservation (Booking) System.
Beginning at 1800 hours on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, until 1800 hours on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, a dry chamber maintenance will be performed on the West Lane of Gatun Locks. During this period, The East Lane will remain operational, but lockage’s will take additional time.
In accordance with the Transit Reservation (Booking) System regulations, the number of slots available in the Panamax Locks will be reduced to 16 during this maintenance period. Therefore, the 2nd Period tiebreaker Competition on July 8, 2026, for booking date of July 22, 2026, four (4) booking slots will be offered to supers and no booking slots will be offered to regular vessels. No booking slots will be offered during Booking Period 3 for both supers and regular vessels. The total number of slots available will be 13 for supers and three (3) for regular vessels.
The following table shows the reduction of slots in the Panamax Locks for the schedule maintenance:
Additionally, during the maintenance period, of the total number of slots available to supers, no more than seven (7) may be booked for transit in each direction, and of these, no more than two (2) with daylight restrictions per direction.
The combined number of daylight restricted vessels shall not exceed four (4) vessels. Similarly, for regular vessels, no more than two (2) may be booked for transit per direction, and of these, no more than one (1) may be allocated to vessels transiting with restrictions per direction for a total of one (1) vessel with restriction per transit date. Slots allocated during the Special Period and Period 1 for booking dates within the maintenance period will be grandfathered in case they exceed these limitations.
Once the maintenance is complete, the 26 slots capacity for the Panamax locks will be reinstated for booking dates beginning July 23, 2026.
No affection expected for the Neopanamax locks.
For additional information, please reach out to our operators at operations@nortonlilly.com.pa.
Norton Lilly International (Panama) S.A.
Bldg. 3825 – Office 301-302
Howard – Panama-Pacifico
Panama, Rep. of Panama
Tel: (507) 304-4600
Main email: operations@nortonlilly.com.pa (24 hours)
