Officials at the Panama Canal on Monday were still working their way through a significant vessel backlog after an “unusual” increase in the number of ships awaiting transit began to back up outside the waterway weeks ago.

On Monday afternoon there were 19 container vessels awaiting transit on either side of the canal? four more since Friday, according to Keith Bucco, a trade analyst at JOC. Bucco recorded nine at anchor on the Atlantic side and 10 on the Pacific side of the canal.

Authorities in Panama issued a congestion advisory to shippers last week, but haven’t responded to a JOC.com request for comment as to the reason for the backup.

“Several measures have been implemented to reduce the backlog,” the canal authority said in a statement, “such as the suspension of all maintenance work and the addition of locks personnel.”

Effective immediately and until further notice, the number of just-in-time transit slots for supers? vessels 91 feet or more in beam? will be reduced to one per direction through the canal. Vessels that have previously been confirmed a JIT transit slot will be honored, the authority has promised.

Construction continues to whir away on the $5.25 billion expansion of the canal, now expected to be completed in April 2016 after months of delays and cost overruns. The project, which will allow the waterway to handle container ships with capacities up to 13,000 to 14,000 TEUs, was expected to be completed in early 2014.

The Grupo Unidos por el Canal consortium leading the project says final testing on the canal’s 16 new locks will begin in June and finishing touches on the project will be completed as soon as January of next year.
(Source : www.joc.com)