The Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (Panama Canal Authority) has informed shipping agents, shipowners and operators that it is reducing the maximum authorised draught at the neopanamax locks. Panamanian institutional sources, starting with the official Advisory A-22-2026, "Draft adjustment in the Neopanamax Locks", set the first limit at 49.5 feet (15.09 metres) from 3 July 2026, before a further reduction from 15 August. The phased sequence, with steps of about 30.5 cm and four weeks’ notice to carriers, is the standard practice of the Panamanian authority. The first draught reduction came into force on 3 July 2026.
The Authority describes the decision as part of its preventive water management strategy, intended to preserve basin reserves and ensure operational continuity. It stresses that the adjustment does not change the number of daily transits and affects less than 1.7% of neopanamax vessels using the route. This is not the first time the Authority has taken such measures, but restrictions had not been needed over the past two years: heavy rainfall in 2025 and a 2026 dry season considered unusually wet had kept water levels in the Gatún and Alajuela lakes above historical averages.
Draught restrictions have been imposed intermittently over the past five years. Between 2021 and 2022, the Acp applied routine seasonal adjustments, setting the maximum draught at 49.5 feet (15.09 metres) from 1 March 2022, without any management difficulties. From May 2023, however, severe drought forced progressive reductions to 43.9 feet (13.4 metres), with daily transits limited to 30-31 vessels. The crisis then worsened in 2023-2024, becoming the most severe in the Canal’s 110-year history according to the Acp, with transits falling from 38 to 24 a day (-37%) and overall capacity dropping to as low as 70% at peak pressure points. The full recovery came in mid-2025, when restrictions were lifted and fiscal-year transits rose to 13,404, up 19.3% on 2024. Since December 2025, only preventive water-saving measures have been back in force, with no active operational restrictions until June this year.
M.G.
