Panama Canal tonnage, transits on the up

Panama Canal tonnage, transits on the up    The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) reported Monday that the tonnage of ships that transited the canal during its fiscal third quarter increased 5.4 percent to 71.9 million Panama Canal/universal measurement system tons.
   ACP said total transits in the third quarter increased 0.2 percent to 3,739 transits from 3,732 transits in the same period last year. Panamax vessel transits accounted for 43 percent of overall transits, up 4.6 percent over the previous year’s quarter.
   Canal waters time, defined as the average time it takes a vessel to navigate the canal including waiting time for passage, declined 15.3 percent to 23.65 hours in the latest quarter, from 27.93 hours in the year earlier period. However, ACP said that time for booked vessels increased only 1.4 percent to 16.41 hours, from 16.18 hours.
   ACP said booked vessels now account for 93.9 percent of all canal transits. For booked transits, canal waters time dropped just 0.1 percent to 16.45 hours from 16.43 hours.