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LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

Panama Canal marks transit

milestone for Neopanamax

The SK Resolute LNG carrier completed a transit last week that marked the 10,000th
journey by a Neopanamax vessel through the Panama Canal since its expansion

THE Panama Canal recently marked a signifi- take longer still.
cant milestone with the transit of the SK Reso- It is thus not surprising that LNG tanker
WHAT: lute LNG carrier. traffic through the Panama Canal has boomed
The 10,000th transit by The transit, completed on August 11, was since 2016 – the same year that exports of the
a Neopanamax vessel the 10,000th by a Neopanamax vessel to be super-chilled fuel from the US Gulf Coast began
through the expanded made through the canal since its expansion. The with the start-up of the Sabine Pass liquefaction
Panama Canal has been SK Resolute is en route to the Chinese port of terminal.
completed. Zhoushan from the US Gulf Coast. According to the Panama Canal Authority,
The journey illustrates the Panama Canal’s LNG shipping now represents 12% of transits
WHY: contribution to the LNG since its enlarged through the expanded canal, surpassed only by
This transit option offers locks entered service in 2016, cutting the time container ships with a 46% share and liquefied
a shorter route between required for tankers to travel between the US petroleum gas (LPG) with 25%. The expanded
US Gulf Coast LNG termi- and Asia. An LNG carrier travelling at an aver- locks handle 27% of transits and half of total ton-
nals and Asian markets. age speed of 10 knots from Louisiana to Tokyo nage via the Panama Canal today, thanks in part
via the Panama Canal is estimated to take 38 to LNG shipments.
WHAT NEXT: days and 9 hours to transit the 9,209 nautical For the SK Resolute, August 11 marked its
The canal is seeing a miles (17,055 km). 13th transit through the waterway. The vessel
rebound in ship transits,
though there have been By contrast, travelling at the same speed travels regularly between the US East Coast and
warnings that LNG vessel via the Suez Canal would take roughly 60 days South Korea and Japan, as well as from Chile to
traffic could be slower to and 12 hours, with a distance of 14,521 nautical the east coast of North America.
recover than other vessel miles (26,893 km). Other routes, via the Cape The same week also marked the 106th anni-
categories. of Good Hope or the Straits of Magellan, would versary of the Panama Canal.

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