Panama Canal reaches another milestone after the transit of four ships with liquefied gas

Panama Canal reaches another milestone after the transit of four ships with liquefied gas

Four ships with liquefied natural gas traveled Monday through the Panama Canal, which is a new milestone for the waterway.

The Panama Canal reached a new milestone on Monday after the successful transit of four liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships, with sleeves up to 160 feet, in a single day, through the neopanamax locks.

By Panama America

Today the Ribera del Duero Knutsen, of 173,000 m3 and Maran Gas Pericles, of 174,000 m3, and to the south, Torben Spirit, of 173,000 m3 and Oceanic Breeze, of 155,300 m3, facilitating international trade among Korean customers went north. of the South, Japan, Chile and the Gulf of Mexico, in the United States.

Based on the experience gained after the transit of more than 4,200 neopanamax vessels, the Panama Canal modified its reservation system to offer up to two quotas per day for LNG vessels. This experience has also allowed it to optimize the capacity of the expanded Canal, in order to meet specific demands such as the one registered on Monday with the transit of four LNG vessels.

The new rules, announced in August of this year and that came into force as of today, allow the night transit of LNG ships in the neopanamax locks, as well as the encounters of these vessels in Gatun Lake, in opposite directions.

"The transit of these four LNG ships in a single day demonstrates the commitment of the Panama Canal to serve the industry with the highest standards of safety, efficiency and reliability, which has characterized its management as a point of connection between two oceans. ", said the administrator of the Canal, Jorge Luis Quijano.