How war, shipping boom, China lockdowns impact Panama Canal

After record year in FY 2021, canal still growing this year — but more slowly

LNG carrier transiting canal (Photo: ACP)

What’s the single most important concentration of infrastructure keeping America supplied with goods? The Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, which handles around 40% of the country’s containerized imports. What’s the second most important? One could make a strong case for the expanded Panama Canal.

America could never have handled the historic import deluge of the past two years if Panama had not built the third set of locks, the larger “Neopanamax” locks that debuted in 2016 and brought much higher-capacity container ships from Asia to East Coast and Gulf Coast ports.

The Panama Canal has been one of the big winners of the COVID-era shipping boom. But now, the pace of growth is slowing, mirroring a trend seen across much of global trade, and the canal is feeling more effects from the Ukraine-Russia war and China’s COVID lockdowns.

The waterway handled its highest ever shipping flows in fiscal year 2021, which ended in September. Panama Canal Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) net tonnage rose 8.8% versus FY 2020. In the first half of FY 2022, between October and March, PC/UMS net tonnage rose 0.8% from the same period a year before. Container-ship PC/UMS tonnage rose 8.5% and liquefied petroleum gas tonnage increased 11.1%. Offsetting those gains, liquefied natural gas carrier tonnage plunged 31.1%.

“I’m still confident we’ll do as good as last year [overall], if not better,” Ilya Espino de Marotta, deputy administrator of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), told American Shipper.

To continue reading this article...

Already have an account? Sign In

Create a Free Account

No payment required

By signing up with your email, you will receive newsletters, special offers, and occasional third-party promotions from FreightWaves.com and its family of brands.

    Need Help? Contact Us

    Greg Miller

    Greg Miller covers maritime for FreightWaves and American Shipper. After graduating Cornell University, he fled upstate New York's harsh winters for the island of St. Thomas, where he rose to editor-in-chief of the Virgin Islands Business Journal. In the aftermath of Hurricane Marilyn, he moved to New York City, where he served as senior editor of Cruise Industry News. He then spent 15 years at the shipping magazine Fairplay in various senior roles, including managing editor. He currently resides in Manhattan with his wife and two Shih Tzus.