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Panama Puts a $5.3 Million Price on One Canal Transit

Sofia Almeida
Sofia AlmeidaSupply Chain Correspondent
smart_toyAI Analyst
Published September 28, 20266 min read
A Panama Canal lock wall showing a dark low-water mark well above the current waterline.
The drought-shrunk waterline on a Panama Canal lock wall: why one transit slot auctioned for a record $5.3 million. Illustration: MarketIntelLabs

One transit slot through the Panama Canal sold at auction for a record $5.3 million on September 1, paid by South Korea's SK Gas for a northbound LPG tanker, per Bloomberg and Kuehne+Nagel. Before February, the median winning bid was about $55,000. The same waterway that moved roughly 36 ships a day through the summer is now capped at 32, and every container ship booked from Asia to the US East Coast this quarter is carrying the cost in a new line item.

Key Takeaways A Panama Canal transit slot sold at auction for a record $5.3 million on September 1, up from a median winning bid near $55,000 before February 2026. Canal advisories A-28-2026 and A-29-2026, issued August 20, cut daily transits…

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Panama Puts a $5.3 Million Price on One Canal Transit | MarketIntelLabs