Panama Canal Backlog

[Karkies25]

I work in the ocean cargo shipping industry and this is top news right now.
 

I wonder if it Will it affect Canal cruises? Yikes.  

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/09/panama-canal-shipping-pileup-due-to-drought-reaches-154-vessels.html

[nansi]

 

We read about this the other day regarding the drought, but this is a whole other issue with the amount of ships in a waiting line! Let's hope by our Nov. cruise it's resolved. I hope NCL made their reservations! Although after reading this article, that may not matter! 

Thanks for sharing Karkies25!

[CruiserBruce]

Cruise ships pay extra to get priority and scheduled times. Your cruise is highly likely to go.

[BillB48]

As Bruce indicated, cruise ships pay extra, a lot extra for reservations for a day certain and a particular time frame on that day.  If you are booked on a cruise ship the last thing you will not need to worry about is getting through the Canal as planned.  This backlog is for the ships that show up without the reservation which is common for many cargo vessels, under normal circumstances ships might expect a 48 hour or so delay before transit.  Because the Canal has temporarily reduced the number of transits per day the and the arrivals have well exceeded that number, hence the backlog.  Cruise ships just don't show up and take their chances, they come with reservations in hand.

[cruiselvr04]

I’ve been reading about this.  I hope you’re right.  We go through in October.  I know they make reservations and pay a hefty price.  

[corytravel]

I just heard that royal Caribbean   have canceled all Panama cruises. I am going through on a Azamara and waiting to hear. there is some utube videos about this topic out now.  

[BillB48]

Royal Caribbean cancelled Canal transits on only one of their ships, the Rhapsody IIRC.  This ship had offered Canal transits on fairly short notice and I don't think the demand in bookings reached a level that Royal was confident in.  There may have been some accompanying issues, but the cruise line rarely divulges the real reasons for their itinerary shakeups.  All their other Canal itineraries remain intact.

 

[sgvcruiser]

Just saw that HAL is cancelling Rotterdam Panama Canal cruise too. We are scheduled for Volendam this xmas, hopefully no cancellation. Is there anyway to find out if the ship is scheduled or just wait for the email?

[AdoraBelle]

Panama Canal water levels at historic lows, restrictions to remain

Edited September 6, 2023 by AdoraBelle

[CruiserBruce]

1 hour ago, sgvcruiser said:

Just saw that HAL is cancelling Rotterdam Panama Canal cruise too. We are scheduled for Volendam this xmas, hopefully no cancellation. Is there anyway to find out if the ship is scheduled or just wait for the email?

If Volendam is scheduled for a full transit, I would expect it to go. It a partial, probably not.

[Turtles06]

4 hours ago, AdoraBelle said:

Panama Canal water levels at historic lows, restrictions to remain

Thanks for the link.  Interestingly, the article says this:

 

“The authority that manages the canal added in a statement that this week's ship traffic represents a ‘normal’ level for this season.  It noted that a month before the end of its 2023 fiscal year, the canal's total vessel crossings already total nearly 800 more that what the canal authority's budget had forecast. The additional vessel crossings, which contribute to a total of more than 13,000 transits so far during the fiscal year, show strong demand by vessel owners.”

 

[BillB48]

18 hours ago, sgvcruiser said:

Just saw that HAL is cancelling Rotterdam Panama Canal cruise too

While looking for a rabbit hole to dive into, I was able to find the original post on the HAL board that gives a little detail of the Rotterdam's cancellation.  The OP quoted the email they received from HAL saying the call at Gatun Lake on March 24 had been cancelled and they were refunding the cost of the shore excursion.  I assume if the call to GL is cancelled the partial transit is a no go as well.  Checked HAL's website and they do not have any sailing listed during that time frame in March, although I did find that sailing listed on site I don't think I am suppose to mention.

 

I am sure HAL had reservations for their partial transit and even cancelling the reservation over 6 months out doesn't come without a little bit of pain in the checkbook.  A ship the size of the Rotterdam, the reservation fee is $70,000 and cancelling between 180-365 days is $14,000!  I suppose if they can't make the partial transit spending 14K is the preferable option than to loose the entire reservation fee.  The transit would have cost about $500,000

[BillB48]

Saw this a couple of days ago and forgot about it but fits in nicely with this topic... A Norwegian shipper recently paid $2.4 million in addition to the regular tolls of approximately $400,000 to go to the head of the line and skip the wait.  What the Canal does is auction one transit north and south each day to the highest bidder.  So, if you have the dough... you can go!  The ship was an LPG carrier, many of the petroleum carriers are big users of the bidding system.

 

Article from GCaptain...  https://gcaptain.com/panama-canal-shipper-pays-2-4-million-to-skip-the-line/

[Turtles06]

10 minutes ago, BillB48 said:

What the Canal does is auction one transit north and south each day to the highest bidder.

Thanks, this is fascinating! Is this daily auction new since the restrictions were put in place? (I would think so.) 

 

 

 

 

[BillB48]

4 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

Thanks, this is fascinating! Is this daily auction new since the restrictions were put in place? (I would think so.) 

 

 

 

 

No, it has been in place for some time.  I am sure it is a real money maker now a days!

[sgvcruiser]

Wow! Definitely learned a lot before the sailing even start.

[Panhandle Couple]

The weather for Panama City the next 10 days.

cloudy, with between 25% and 50% chance of rain, maybe 1/2 inch of rain per day.

 

https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/pa/panama-city