Modifications to the Transit Reservation (Booking) System Tariffs

PANAMA FLASH! | Panama City – August 28^th, 2024

Modifications to the Transit Reservation (Booking) System Tariffs

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announces modifications to the Transit Reservation (Booking) System tariffs as part of the Maritime Complementary Services Tariffs. These adjustments arise from the recently introduced Long-Term Slot Allocation (LoTSA), a new scheme designed to enhance our business model and service quality by providing certainty, predictability, and reliability to our customers.

The main objectives are to introduce the new Long-Term Slot Allocation (LoTSA) sales scheme, to improve the level of service, to reflect the value of the reservations service, to improve the supply and demand management and to optimize transit operations. These modifications include adjustments in fee amounts, changes in tariff structure and introduction of new tariffs, summarized in the following tables:

Modifications aimed at enhancing customer experience and optimizing Canal operations include:

Discouraging Late Cancellations and No Shows (Forfeits)
To reduce late cancellations and the retention of slots that are not going to be used. A surcharge equivalent to 250% of the reservation fee will be applied if the vessel does not arrive within the next 7 days of the booked date. We recognize that unforeseen situations may require cancellations.
Consequently, tariffs 1050.IBC6 – 1050.IBC7 are being eliminated, since the new 250% surcharge will be applied. Nevertheless, we encourage customers to cancel their booking slots as soon as it is known that they will not be needed to allow ACP to maximize transit slot usage.

The cancellation surcharge for LNG has been eliminated.

There will be an assessed surcharge of 250% of the reservation fee to vessels that cancel less than 2 days of the booking date and do not arrive within 7 days. This applies to all market segments.

2. Empathetic Management of Tariff Modifications
To better accommodate customer needs, we are implementing the following changes:

• Increased flexibility for Swapping requests.
Customers can submit swapping requests up to 14 days in advance of the required arrival time, without charge. For requests made less than 14 days before the required arrival time, a 1% surcharge of the reservation fee will be applied.

• Modified substitution rule.
The rule requiring the applicable rate to be based on the higher reserve rate of the two vessels involved in the substitution will no longer apply. Vessel will now retain its original reservation tariff assigned at the time the slot was obtained or awarded.

3. Introducing “Last Minute Transit Reservation”
This is implemented to provide an option to vessels that are unable to obtain a booking slot through regular means, and arrive at Canal waters without a reservation. This option allows the Canal to assign a slot to such vessels depending on vessel mix, thereby optimizing Canal capacity, and minimizing waiting times. Further details regarding this option will be announced.

4. Vessel Scheduling Fee
The Canal has created this fee to better accommodate vessels that cannot be booked through the regular reservation system. This requires coordination with the Canal to be scheduled for transit. The tariff for this fee is not applicable to passenger vessels, vessels from the Intra-maritime cluster, and vessels of war and auxiliary vessels from the United States and the Republic of Panama.

This refers to the advisory to shipping issued ADV-09-2024 (see attached) for war, auxiliary vessels and other government-owned vessels. The rest of the market segments will need to apply for the last minute transit reservation.