PANAMA FLASH! | Panama City – November 23rd, 2024
Substitution and Swapping of Booking Slots between Container vessels of Cooperative Working Agreement Members (Global Alliances or Vessel Sharing Agreements)
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is pleased to announce that effective January 1, 2025, in an ongoing effort to enhance the service offered to the maritime industry, swapping and substitution of booking slots between container vessels for Cooperative Working Agreement members (Global Alliances or Vessel Sharing Agreements (VSA)) will be allowed, on a temporary basis, under the following conditions:
- Both vessels must be of the same type and must belong to the containership segment
- Both vessels must belong to the same vessel classification (Neopanamax, Super or Regular)
- Both vessels must be transiting in the same direction
- For swaps, vessels must have similar transit restrictions, and for substitutions, the new vessel must have similar or lesser transit restrictions
- Both vessel operators must belong to services under the same cooperative working agreement (Global Alliances or VSA)
- The booking date of the vessels involved in the swap or substitution must be within the effective date of the services and of the Alliance or VSA
- All other Long Term Slot Allocation method (LoTSA) and ordinary Booking slots rules remain in effect
For substitution and swapping of slots acquired through the LoTSA, please refer to the terms and conditions for this initiative in the following link: https://pancanal.com/en/maritime-services/vessel-eta- and-transit-booking/
Substitution and swapping of booking slots through the ordinary Reservation System maintain the same terms and conditions as published in Notice to Shipping N-7-2024.
To be considered a Cooperative Working Agreement member in the Panama Canal, please refer to the procedure “Panama Canal Authority – Cooperative Working Agreement request – Terms and Conditions” available in the following web link: https://pancanal.com/en/
Vessel agents or shipping lines interested in participating in swaps or substitutions within Cooperative Working Agreement members, shall send documentation regarding the agreement to operationservices@pancanal.com. The ACP may request additional information from shipping lines to verify their membership in the cooperative working agreement. It is important that vessel agents register in the Maritime Service Portal the corresponding liner service for each vessel’s visit prior to submitting the request for swap or substitution.
We would like to remind all customers that a request to include new Cooperative Working Agreements (Global Alliances or Vessel Sharing Agreements) or any changes regarding an established one (change of effective date, customer consolidation or deactivation), shall be presented to the ACP a minimum of three months prior to submitting swap or substitution requests in order to update our records.
To guarantee operational efficiency, the provisions established herein may be modified or suspended at any time at the discretion of the ACP.
We trust that the above-mentioned changes will render an improved service in your booking process and transit in the Panama Canal. We look forward to continuing doing business with you in the years to come.
For additional information about customer code procedures, please visit the following link: https://pancanal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/CUSTOMER-CODE-PROCEDURE-REV-JAN2023-3.pdf
For inquiries regarding these rules, please contact: operationservices@pancanal.com.
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)
