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[REVISION HISTORY]

Panama Canal traffic up, El Niño prep, energy corridor

Updated 2 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-08-05 22:43 UTC → 2026-08-11 17:45 UTC · added removed

In early June June, the Canal Authority began reviewing a modest 15‑centimetre 15-centimetre draft cut for Neopanamax ships and drafted an operational plan that pairs small vessels, adds water‑saving water-saving basins and temporarily curtails hydro‑electric hydro-electric output to guard Gatun‑Lake Gatun-Lake levels ahead of the 2026 El Niño. Mid‑month Mid-month, the historic Gatun locks entered a dry‑chamber dry-chamber overhaul, replacing valves and refurbishing gates to curb the 55 million‑gallon million-gallon water loss per lockage and to ready the system for the forecast drought. June 26 marked the 10‑year 10-year anniversary of the 2016 expansion, with the newer Agua Clara‑Cocolí Clara-Cocolí locks now handling over half of the canal’s cargo tonnage and FY 2025 revenue rising 14 % 14% to $5.7 billion. The same day day, the Authority projected fiscal‑2026 fiscal-2026 earnings above the $5.2 billion forecast, buoyed by a Hormuz Strait closure that pushed daily transits to a record 40‑41 40-41 ships and spurred higher LNG and oil‑tanker oil-tanker traffic. July saw traffic normalize to 36‑37 36-37 vessels as the Middle‑East Middle-East crisis eased, while the pre‑qualification pre-qualification window closed for two new container‑terminal container-terminal projects at Corozal and Telfers. A surge later in the month brought daily transits back to near‑capacity (36‑40) near-capacity (36-40) and lifted total transits to 10,726 for the first nine months, up 5.2 % year‑on‑year, 5.2% year-on-year, with revenues up 17 % 17% to $4.8 billion. The Energy Corridor pre‑qualification pre-qualification period officially ended on 23 July, moving proposals to the evaluation phase. On 26 August In August, the Authority announced tightened further progressive reductions in maximum drafts – for Neopanamax vessels to manage Gatun Lake levels. The maximum draft will be lowered to 14.63 m (48 ft) from starting 26 August and further decreased to 14.48 m (47.5 ft) from 3 September – September. These represent the fourth and fifth draft adjustments since December 2025 as Gatun Lake levels remained low, reinforcing water‑saving part of water resource conservation measures while maintaining ship‑number allowances. to prepare for the 2026 dry season.

Versions

  1. 2026-08-11 17:45 UTC Panama Canal traffic up, El Niño prep, energy corridor
  2. 2026-08-05 22:43 UTC Panama Canal traffic up, El Niño prep, energy corridor
  3. 2026-07-26 08:13 UTC Panama Canal traffic up, El Niño prep, energy corridor

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