Panama Canal traffic jam forced ship to pay $4 million for priority passage
Kyiv • UNN
Due to congestion and the war in the Middle East, a tanker paid a record amount at auction for priority. This is four times the standard March rates.
The congestion in the Panama Canal due to the war in the Middle East has led to a sharp increase in traffic and delays, causing one vessel to pay $4 million to bypass the queue. This is reported by Bloomberg, writes UNN.
Details
Delays at the entrance to the canal reached approximately three and a half days and were the largest since the 2023-2024 drought.
The reason was the almost complete paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz, which led to a reduction in the supply of oil, gas, and other resources from the Persian Gulf. As a result, buyers began actively using the Panama Canal for alternative routes.
Record costs for passage
According to sources, a liquefied petroleum gas tanker agreed to pay $4 million at auction to expedite transit.
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This is significantly more than the less than $1 million that vessels paid for priority as recently as early March.
The auction fee is added to the standard cost of passing through the canal, which itself can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Increased demand for the route
Analysts note that transit through the canal has sharply increased due to increased exports from the US to Asia.
Canal transit traffic has become busier in recent weeks amid increased export flows of various cargoes from the US
The Panama Canal Authority emphasizes that the cost of auctions depends on market conditions, including demand, urgency, and freight and fuel prices.
Experts expect that competition for passage through the canal will remain high, and priority premiums will increase in the near future.
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