Panama Canal News

The Panama Canal welcomed a visit from the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Panama on May 21.Kevin Marino Cabrera visited as part of an institutional outreach tour focused on providing first-hand knowledge of the canal’s operations.The U.S. delegation, which included Defense Attaché Daniel Bethancourt and Economic Attaché April Cohen, was initially received at the Miraflores Locks by Vice President of Operations for the Panama Canal Boris Moreno.The tour continued at the Cocolí Locks where Ambassador Cabrera was welcomed by Canal Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez Morales.

The number of vessels that passed through the Panama Canal rose to an average of 34 per day for a total of 1,021 transits last month, from an average of 33.7 per day in March, according to a bulletin published by the waterway's authority.In the first four months of 2025, transits remained below the maximum of 36 ships allowed to pass per day, according to the data, despite a decline in the fees the canal charges for passage slots.A severe drought between late 2023 and early 2024 forced the waterway…

The Panama Canal Administrator, Dr. Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, delivered the 43rd Annual William A. Patterson Distinguished Transportation Lecture at Northwestern University this week, in which he laid out the crucial role the Panama Canal has played in the development of global trade and the impact it has had on the greater evolution of humanity in Panama, and throughout the world.The Northwestern University Patterson Transportation Lecture is an award that recognizes Vásquez…

China's top market regulator said on Sunday it was paying close attention to CK Hutchison's planned sale of most of its port operations to a BlackRock-led consortium and parties to the deal should not try to avoid an antitrust review.The sale by the Hong Kong conglomerate, which contains two ports along the strategically important Panama Canal, has become highly politicised amid intensifying U.S.-Sino trade tensions."No concentration of undertakings shall be implemented without approval…

The number of vessels that transited the Panama Canal, the world's second-busiest waterway, fell to an average of 33.7 per day in March for a total of 1,045 ships that month, according to a bulletin on Thursday by its administrative authority.In February, an average of 34.8 vessels per day crossed the waterway, an increase from 32.6 per day in January, but still below the maximum number of ships authorized.Transits this year have remained below the maximum of 36 vessels allowed to pass per day since the waterway lifted drought-related restrictions in the third quarter last year…

The United States will "take back" the Panama Canal from Chinese influence, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday during a visit to the Central American nation.After talks with Panama's government, Hegseth vowed to deepen security cooperation with Panamanian security forces and said China would not be allowed to "weaponize" the canal by using Chinese firms' commercial relationships for espionage."Together, we will take back the Panama Canal from China's influence," Hegseth said, speaking at a pier renovated with U.S. assistance in Panama City."China did not build this canal.

Stillstrom by Maersk and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore the implementation of Stillstrom’s offshore charging technology to reduce emissions from vessels idling in and around the Panama Canal.Handling approximately 14,000 vessels annually, the Panama Canal is a critical artery of global commerce. The Canal’s strategic position makes it a focal point for maritime sustainability, and in recent years, ACP has taken significant steps toward decarbonization.

The Panama Canal Board of Directors has authorized the opening of a bidding process for the development of a new pipeline for the transfer of energy products which will complement operations in the interoceanic waterway.The pipeline will be incorporated into the development of the Panama Canal's West Bank route, which includes activities and alternatives to transporting products by sea.It will strengthen Panama’s strategic position and help keep the Canal competitive by increasing its capacity and providing quality service to the world…

Hong Kong's CK Hutchison will not sign a deal next week to sell its two port operations near the Panama Canal to a BlackRock-led group, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said, amid growing pressure from Beijing.China's market regulator said it will carry out an antitrust review on the Panama port deal in accordance with law to protect fair competition and safeguard public interests, its official WeChat account showed late on Friday.The telecoms-to-retail conglomerate owned by tycoon Li Ka-shing this month agreed to sell most of the global $22.8 billion ports business…

Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino said on Thursday that he didn't place any value on reports the U.S. military is looking into options for ensuring full U.S. access to the Panama Canal, since these reports came from unnamed sources."If no one puts their name to such an assertion, I don't ascribe any value to it," he told a press conference.Two U.S. officials, speaking anonymously, told Reuters last week that the Pentagon had been instructed to evaluate options, amid President…

Fees for vessels to pass through the Panama Canal this year are 15% below last year's levels as the waterway now has more capacity to move cargoes, the head of the Panama Canal Authority, Ricaurte Vasquez, said on Wednesday in a video conference.A severe drought between late 2023 and early 2024 forced the world's second busiest waterway to impose passage restrictions that prompted long waiting lines and higher transit fees.

U.S. President Donald Trump has hailed a deal led by U.S. firm BlackRock to buy most of the $22.8 billion ports business of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison which includes assets along the Panama Canal.The deal will give the U.S. consortium control of key Panama Canal ports amid White House calls to remove them from what it says is Chinese ownership. The high purchase price sent CK Hutchison's stock up more than 20%."My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we've already started doing it," Trump told the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump has postponed a phone call with Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino due to last-minute changes in the U.S. leader's agenda, Panama's government said on Friday, amid tensions over U.S. threats to take over the Panama Canal.Panama's foreign office will share details on the new date once it has been coordinated, the government said.Mulino has accused the U.S. of spreading "lies and falsehoods" after its government claimed its vessels would be able to pass through the Panama Canal without paying.He has also rejected claims that China controls the canal…

Panama President Jose Raul Mulino said on Thursday the U.S. was spreading "lies and falsehoods" after the State Department claimed U.S. government vessels would be able to pass through the Panama Canal without paying.The comments were likely to exacerbate tensions between the two countries after the U.S. had cited progress on military cooperation and confronting alleged Chinese influence over the canal.Later, Mulino added on social media that he would speak to U.S. President Donald…

Between September 2024 and January 2025, ship capacity in deadweight tonnes transiting through the Panama Canal was 10% lower than the 2019-22 average.Although there were no transit restrictions during this period, transits of dry bulk, LNG and, to a lesser extent, tankers have not recovered to their historical levels, says Filipe Gouveia, Shipping Analysis Manager at BIMCO.Between June 2023 and September 2024, transits through the Panama Canal were restricted due to low water levels in the Gatun Lake.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday warned Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino that Washington will "take measures necessary" if Panama does not immediately take steps to end what President Donald Trump sees as China's influence and control over the Panama Canal.Mulino, after the talks with the top U.S. diplomat in Panama City, signaled he would review agreements involving China and Chinese businesses, and announced further cooperation with the U.S. on migration, but…

Some U.S. lawmakers and officials are touting a nearly half-century-old treaty between the United States and Panama to justify the Trump administration's threat to reclaim the Panama Canal - provided it can show the strategic waterway's operation is under threat.Others, however, say hurdles would loom for any bid to use the 1977 Panama Canal Neutrality Treaty, which took effect in 1999 and guarantees that the canal would remain neutral and open to all ships from all countries, as a pretext for the U.S. to seize it.The 82-km (51-mile) waterway's construction was completed by the U.S.

When Marco Rubio arrives in Latin America this weekend on his first foreign trip as Donald Trump's secretary of state, he'll find a region reeling from the new administration's shock-and-awe approach to diplomacy.In the first days of Trump's second term, the new president has doubled down on his intention to reclaim the Panama Canal, angered Brazilians by returning migrants in shackles and briefly imposed crushing sanctions and tariffs on Colombia in a tussle over deportee flights.Rubio's…

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday expressed alarm at China's influence on the Panama Canal, which President Donald Trump has vowed the United States would take back."Chinese companies are building a bridge across the canal – at a slow pace so as to take nearly a decade – and control container ports at either end," Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz said at a hearing on the canal's role in U.S. trade and national security."The partially-completed bridge gives China the ability to block the canal without warning…

President Donald Trump vowed again that the United States would take back the Panama Canal as he delivered an inauguration speech in which he invoked the 19th century expansionist doctrine of "Manifest Destiny."Doubling down on his pre-inauguration threat to reimpose U.S. control over the canal, Trump again accused Panama of breaking the promises it made for the final transfer of the strategic waterway in 1999 and of ceding its operation to China - claims that the Panamanian government has vehemently denied."We didn't give it to China.

Hundreds of Panamanians marched on Thursday to mark the anniversary of a deadly uprising against U.S. control of the Panama Canal in 1964, with some protesters burning an effigy of President-elect Donald Trump who has threatened to retake the vital global waterway.More than 20 Panamanians, many of them students, died during violent clashes across the country in January 1964, which escalated after U.S. security forces opened fire in response to mass demonstrations against the U.S. presence in the country and control of the canal. At least three U.S.

The Panama Canal Authority could double in coming years the number of containers that move through the commercial waterway that links the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, the canal's chief told a maritime conference.The authority, which has an $8 billion investment plan, is putting in place a water conservation strategy following a severe drought that forced ships between late 2023 and early 2024 to take alternative routes between the United States and Asia.As part of that, it is encouraging shippers to consolidate cargoes so less water is used for vessels to pass…

The MSC Marie transited through the Panama Canal on August 30, setting a new record for the largest-capacity container ship to sail the route.The 366-meter (1,200 feet) Neopanamax ship has a width of 51 meters (167.4 feet) and a maximum capacity of 17,640 TEUs.The record was previously held by the Ever Max which made the transit at a capacity of 17,312 TEUs in August 2023.The MSC Marie sailed from the port of Manzanillo in Mexico.