PANAMA FLASH! | Panama City – March 19th, 2026
Scheduled Lane Outage at Gatun Locks and the Transit Reservation System
Beginning at 0001 hours on April 7, 2026, until 2359 hours on April 9, 2026, (3 days), a dry chamber maintenance will be performed on the East Lane of Gatun Locks. West Lane will remain available, 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, starting with the 2nd Period tiebreaker Competition from March 24 to March 26, 2026, for booking dates from April 7 to April 9, 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 scheduled 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 20 slots for the Panamax locks will be reinstated for booking dates beginning April 10, 2026.
Please note: This maintenance will not affect operations at the Neopanamax Locks, which are expected to continue operating normally.
For additional information, please reach out to our operators at operations@nortonlilly.com.pa.
Norton Lilly International (Panama) S.A.
Bldg. 3825 – Office 204
Howard – Panama-Pacifico
Panama, Rep. of Panama
Tel: (507) 304-4600
Main email: operations@nortonlilly.com.pa (24 hours)
