Panama Canal traffic increases amid worries about cost, delays

Panama Canal traffic increases amid worries about cost, delays    Vessel traffic through the Panama Canal increased 7 percent to 47 million Panama Canal universal measurement system tons during the months of October and November, the Panama Canal Authority reported.
   The month of November saw a daily average of 778,176 tons transited through the Panama Canal, a record that beat the previous figure of 774,014 tons reported for April.
   However, users of the canal are reporting increasing delays. The Europe/South Pacific and Magellan conference of shipping lines reported that during the second half of this year there was an average delay of 13.1 hours per transit through the canal.
   “But there was a large variation in the time vessels had to wait at the canal,” a conference spokesman told American Shipper. “In the worst cases, vessels were subject to delays of up to three or four days.”
   Last week, the Panama Canal Authority announced a formal proposal to raise canal tolls substantially for vessel operators and restructure its vessel measurement and pricing system for vessels with on-deck container capacity.