Maintenance work restricts transits at Panama Canal

    



Updated December 15, 2008



The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE



The Panama Canal will restrict vessel transits Dec. 15-18 due to maintenance work that will take the Gatun Locks out of service.



Although both lanes will remain in service, they will be served by single culverts during filling and spilling operations. Therefore, all lockages at Gatun Locks will consume more time than normal.



No more than eight super-type vessels may be booked for southbound transit and of these, no more than six with “full daylight-hour” restriction.



No more than seven supers may be booked northbound, and no more than five with “full daylight-hour” restriction.



-- The total of “full daylight-hour”-restricted supers is limited to eight per day.



No more than four regular vessels may be booked for transit in the same direction. Of the six slots available for regular vessels, no more than two may be allocated to regular vessels transiting under restrictions.