Panama Canal to select first neopanamax ship for transit this Friday

The canal authority will conduct a lottery on Friday to select which of its top 15 customers will be in the spotlight with the historic first passage through the Central American waterway’s new, expanded locks.    The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) said it will hold a lottery draw this Friday to determine which neopanamax ship will be the first to pass through the new locks when the expanded Panama Canal is inaugurated on Sunday, June 26.
   The authority said only one neopanamax vessel in southbound direction will be allowed to transit the expanded canal for its inauguration during daylight hours and that the passage will be streamed live on its YouTube channel. Regular commercial transits through the expanded canal will commence on June 27.
   ACP invited its top 15 customers to participate in the draw for the inaugural transit. Of the invited customers, those interested in participating were required to indicate the neopanamax vessel’s name, type and dimensions that it plans to deploy on the inauguration day of the expanded canal.
   The proposed vessel is required to not surpass a maximum beam of 49 meters and a maximum overall length of 366 meters. In addition, the maximum draft or point of immersion for the inaugural transit will be 12.5 meters. For security purposes, gas carriers will not be considered for the inaugural transit.
   The draw will be carried out with ballots labeled with the name of each participant. A child will select the first ballot and hand it to the Public Notary who will announce the winner of the draw. Afterwards, the same child will pick a second ballot for the shipping line that will be able to deploy a vessel for the inaugural transit in the event that the winner informs the Panama Canal by May 10 that it will not be able to deploy an approved vessel for the inauguration.