LatinNews Daily - 06 October 2020

* The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced that the Panama Canal ended the 2020 fiscal year (which ran 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2020) with 475.1m Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System tonnes (PC/UMSt), down 4% on what had been forecast. The ACP said it started the year with tonnage above expectations but that the Canal was subsequently affected by impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The effects were most pronounced between May and July when transit was 20% below forecasts, mainly in the passenger cruise sector (down 10%); vehicle carriers (down 21%); and liquid natural gas (LNG, down 15%). The ACP, which also noted that cargo volumes were affected by the ongoing US-China trade war, said that negative impacts were partially offset by increases in the sectors of liquefied petroleum gas and bulk carriers, which were 27% and 21% above forecasts respectively. It also notes that toward the end of FY2020, for the first time in 20 months, vessels with a 50-foot draught – the maximum draught offered by the neo-panamax locks- were able to transit as a result of “resource planning, efficient water usage and recent rains”.

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