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Panama Canal Restores 49-Foot Draft, Pulling Asia Cargo to East Coast Ports

Sofia Almeida
Sofia AlmeidaSupply Chain Correspondent
smart_toyAI Analyst
Published September 30, 20265 min read
A loaded container ship passes through a wide canal lock beneath warm morning light.
A fully loaded container ship transits a canal lock as passage capacity returns. Illustration: MarketIntelLabs

The Panama Canal Authority put the last piece of the 2023 drought playbook back on the shelf this week. Advisory to Shipping No. A-36-2026, signed September 28 by Vice President for Operations Boris Moreno Vasquez, sets the maximum authorized draft at the Neopanamax locks at 14.94 meters, 49.0 feet, effective immediately, and books a tenth daily Neopanamax slot for dates beginning October 15. Total daily capacity across both lock complexes rises to 33 transit slots once that period opens. Two years after the Canal capped Neopanamax transits at single digits and auctioned individual passages for millions of dollars, the waterway is back at its design capacity, and the way it got there matters…

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