Page 11 - GLNG Week 33

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

Panama Canal marks Neopanamax

transit milestone

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

PIPELINES & THE Panama Canal marked a significant mile- container ships with a 46% share and liquefied
TRANSPORT stone last week with the transit of the SK Resolute petroleum gas (LPG) with 25%. The expanded
LNG carrier. The transit, completed on August locks handle 27% of transits and half of total ton-
WHAT: 11, was the 10,000th by a Neopanamax vessel to nage via the Panama Canal today, thanks in part
The 10,000th transit by be made through the canal since its expansion. to LNG shipments.
a Neopanamax vessel The SK Resolute is en route to the Chinese port For the SK Resolute, last week marked its 13th
through the expanded of Zhoushan from the US Gulf Coast. transit through the waterway. The vessel travels
Panama Canal was The journey illustrates the Panama Canal’s regularly between the US East Coast and South
completed last week. contribution to the LNG since its enlarged locks Korea and Japan, as well as from Chile to the east
entered service in 2016, cutting the time required coast of North America.
WHY: for tankers to travel between the US and Asia. An Last week also marked the 106th anniversary
The route through the LNG carrier travelling at an average speed of 10 of the Panama Canal.
Panama Canal is a knots from Louisiana to Tokyo via the Panama “The two historic milestones this week – our
shorter one between US Canal is estimated to take 38 days and 9 hours to 10,000th Neopanamax transit and 106th anni-
Gulf Coast LNG terminals transit the 9,209 nautical miles (17,055 km). By versary – are symbolic,” stated Panama Canal
and Asian markets. contrast, travelling at the same speed via the Suez administrator Ricaurte Vasquez. “Together,
Canal would take roughly 60 days and 12 hours, they reiterate that the Panama Canal is not
WHAT NEXT: with a distance of 14,521 nautical miles (26,893 only a trusted and reliable service, but also one
The canal is seeing a km). Other routes, via the Cape of Good Hope committed to continued competitiveness and
rebound in ship transits, or the Straits of Magellan, would take longer still. growth.”
though there have been It is thus not surprising that LNG tanker traf-
warnings that LNG vessel fic through the Panama Canal has boomed since Taking a hit
traffic could be slower to 2016 – the same year that exports of the super- Despite the role the Panama Canal plays, traffic
recover than other vessel chilled fuel from the US Gulf Coast began with on the waterway had already taken a hit prior
categories. the start-up of the Sabine Pass liquefaction ter- to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as
minal. According to the Panama Canal Author- a result of the trade war between the US and
ity, LNG shipping now represents 12% of transits China. In 2019, China’s imports from the US
through the expanded canal, surpassed only by dropped by 20.9% year on year to $122.7bn.

Week 33 21•August•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P11