Panama Canal Locks – Advisory Note

Advisory Note

The following is an advisory note coming directly from the AUTORIDAD DEL CANAL DE PANAMÁ (ACP), and it’s intended to inform Shipping Agents, Owners and Operators about relevant events/changes having place on the Panama Canal. For more information please visit the ACP website.

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENCY FOR OPERATIONS

ADVISORY TO SHIPPING No. A-23-2017

Panama Canal Locks Lane and Culvert Outages and the Transit Reservation

System

Beginning at 2200 hours on Monday, July 31, 2017, until 2359 hours on Thursday, August 10, 2017, (10 days), the EAST lane of Miraflores Locks will be out of service for scheduled dry chamber repair work on Miter Gates 104, 105, 120, and 121. During this period, Miter Gates 122 and 123 will also be installed in position 120-121.

Concurrent with the lane outage at Miraflores Locks, a culvert outage will take place on the EAST lane of Gatun Locks, in order to perform repair work on rising stem valves 207, 223, 228, 229, and 244, during the following dates:

• Beginning at 2000 hours on Thursday, August 3, 2017, until 0600 hours on Friday, August 4, 2017, (10 hours), the EAST lane of Gatun Locks will be out of service for bulkhead installation.
• Upon completion of the bulkhead installation, at 0600 hours on Friday, August 4, 2017, lockages on the EAST lane of Gatun Locks will be performed with single culvert, causing longer processing times. This condition will be in effect until 2000 hours on Thursday, August 10, 2017.
• Beginning at 1600 hours on Thursday, August 10, 2017, until 2359 hours on Thursday, August 10, 2017, (8 hours), the EAST lane of Gatun Locks will be out of service for bulkhead removal.
• Upon completion of the bulkhead removal, at 0000 hours on Friday, August 11, 2017, the EAST lane of Gatun Locks will return to normal operation.As a result, and in accordance with the rules governing the Transit Reservation System (OP’s Notice to Shipping No. N-7-2017), Condition 2 for the Panamax locks will be in effect from Tuesday, August 1, 2017, until Thursday, August 10, 2017.Applications for reserved transits while Condition 2 is in effect will be received beginning at 0900 hours on Saturday, July 29, 2017. The Just-In-Time (JIT) transit slots available for supers will be reduced during this period to one for each direction, whereas the JIT slots for regular vessels transiting without restrictions will remain at one for each direction. The slots available for regular vessels less than 300 feet in LOA will be limited to two, regardless of transit direction, and vessels awarded these slots will not be allowed to request a Daylight Transit. The booking slot available through the Auction Process, and the slots for Neopanamax vessels, will continue to be offered during this period.This document is cancelled for record purposes on August 10, 2017.