Panama Canal Transit Hits Record

The trend of larger ships using the Panama Canal is increasing, as evidenced by the record set recently in May 2005 of 120 transits made by vessels 900 ft. or more. Of these 120 transits, 117 were made by full container vessels and three were made by cruise ships. The record breaks the previous mark achieved in January 2005 of 114 transits of these types of vessels. Canal Waters Time (CWT), the average time it takes a vessel to transit the Canal, including waiting time for passage, did not increase, despite the volume of transits and larger vessels handled.