he Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has declared the prolongation of Booking Condition 3  within the Panamax Locks until November 7, 2023.

Starting on 1 November, Super-panamax vessels will be offered auction slots for the period from 3 November to 7 November, which will be made available daily, two days prior to the transit date. While for Neopanamax vessels, auction slots will be offered for 8 November, from 1 November and as for vessels under 91 feet or 27.74 meters in beam, auction slots from 3 November until 7 November will be offered each day (two days prior to the transit date) from 1 November. More information can be found under Annex A.

Simultaneously, the introduction of Booking Condition 5, scheduled for November 1, 2023, will take effect for booking dates starting from November 8, 2023. Under the new Booking Condition 5, the limits for each direction and the restrictions for each vessel category before the commencement of Booking Period 3 can also be found under Annex A.

In addition to the extension mentioned above, starting 1 November, the ACP has announced a reduction in the capacity of vessels transiting the canal. The following will apply:

3 November until 6 November: 25 booking slots

7 November until 30 November: 24 booking slots

1 December until 31 December: 22 booking slots

1 January until 31 January: 20 booking slots

The number of booking slots and distribution of slots per booking period for each vessel category for the above-mentioned conditions can be found under Annex B

CAN(23)18 -Annex A – ACP Advisory to Shipping (A-47-2023)