The Panama Canal announced this Thursday, through a Notice to Shipping Companies, the introduction of a long-term slot allocation method (LoTSA) for neopanamax vessels, as part of the Transit Reservations System, with the in order to increase transit certainty and flexibility for customers.

Currently, the offer of seats in the Transit Reservation System is made daily with a period of anticipation of the required transit date.

Through this method, several transit reservation quota packages corresponding to January of next year will be offered to different market segments; That is, the same customer may obtain multiple reservations in a single transaction.

Each package will include a specific number of slots on a weekly or monthly basis per year, for both northbound and southbound transits.

These packages and their features will be announced through the Projected Availability of Reservation Spaces published on the pancanal.com website and will be assigned to the highest bidder through an auction.

The amount of the sealed bid auction will refer to the maximum amount that the client is willing to pay for each space included in the package, with an initial base of US$ 200 thousand.

These are divided into reservation periods of 90 days, 30 to 15 days, 14 and 8 days and finally reservations of 7 to 2 days.

To these is added the Long-Term assignment method with availability in the different quota packages.

Auctions will be held beginning September 2, 2024, for reservation dates beginning January 5, 2025, through January 3, 2026.

"The Panama Canal remains focused on improving efficiency and responsiveness to the changing needs of the maritime industry. The introduction of this reservation method reflects the ongoing commitment to maintaining the Canal as a premier global trade route," concluded the ACP statement.