Americas News
January Sees Panama Canal Break Monthly Tonnage Record Set in December
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced that during the month of January, the canal set a new monthly tonnage record of 36.1 million Panama Canal tonnes (PC/UMS), reporting the transit of 1,260 ships.
The new figures break the previous record set in December, when 1,166 ships transited through the canal, moving a total of 35.4 million PC/UMS through the system.
"This increase reiterates the positive effect of the expanded Canal and is further proof of the continued confidence of the maritime industry in the Panama Canal and the impact it will have on the future of world maritime trade," said Jorge Luis Quijano, ACP's CEO.
ACP says that, as the expansion continues to make its mark on world maritime trade and transit patterns, it is anticipated that April 2017 will mark the first transit of a Neopanamax cruise ship in the expanded canal.
Seven months after the start of operations, ACP notes that the Expanded Canal has seen the transit of about 750 Neopanamax ships, with more than 50 percent of that number said to have been container ships.
