Panama Canal sets record tonnage

The expanded Panama Canal set a tonnage record (403.8M) of cargo passing through its links for FY 2017. It was the largest annual tonnage ever to transit in the canal’s 103-year history; and a 22.2 percent increase from FY-16. It can be directly attributed to the added capacity provided by the canal’s expansion for larger Neo-Panamax vessels. A total of 13,548 vessels passed through the canal during FY-17. The September 2017 transit of the COSCO Yantian containership marked 2,000th Neo-Panamax transit. The container segment continued to serve as the leading market segment for tonnage, accounting for 35.3 percent for a total 143M tons, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, which represented the No. 2 market segment (105M). The third largest segment was bulk carriers (79M) and vehicle carriers (47M). (Source: Marine Professional 10/17/17)