Panama Canal Use Falls
2% in Second Quarter,
Authority Says
Panama Canal ship
traffic fell 2 percent
during the fiscal second
quarter, the agency that
runs the 93-year-old
waterway reported.
Ship transits fell to
3,971 from 4,053, with a
decrease of 2.6 percent
in tonnage, in the three
months through March,
the Panama Canal
Authority said today in
an e-mailed statement.
Passenger ship traffic
rose 35 percent to 124.
``The slight drop in
total transits and
tonnage during the
second quarter can be
attributed in part to
the slowdown in the U.S.
economy,'' said Rodolfo
Sabonge, the authority's
vice president for
research and market
analysis.
Passages by dry-bulk
vessels rose 6.7 percent
to 625, while related
tonnage climbed 10
percent, the authority
said.
The average time it
takes a vessel to go
through the canal
increased 33 percent to
36 hours, as a peak in
seasonal arrivals
coincided with
maintenance of some
locks, the authority
said.
The Panama Canal is
currently undergoing a
$5.2 billion expansion
that will allow more
transits and post-panamax
ships to navigate
through the passage that
connects the Pacific
Ocean to the Caribbean
Sea.
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