The second half of the locks were a lot busier than the first set. This could have been just the way it was on this day but I do know that cruise ships do take a half transit of the canal from the Atlantic side. You board your ship in Florida and it sails through the Atlantic locks into Gatun Lake, from there they have excursions that take people through the locks on the Pacific side on small boats so they can experience the canal up close. Going through the locks we noticed that there were Panama Flags and colours everywhere. Not sure if this is an everyday thing or just to show their ownership because of the overtures from the USA.
Gatun Locks
While the canal expansion in 2016 was being completed, and considering the high operational costs of the vessels, the long queues that occur during the high season December through March (sometimes up to a seven-day delay), and the high value of some of the cargo transported through the canal, a Transit Booking System and Transit Slot Auction was created to allow a better management of the scarce capacity available and to increase the level of service offered to the shipping companies. The scheme gives users two choices:
transit by order of arrival on a first-come, first-served basis, as the canal historically has operated; or booked service for a fee – a congestion charge.
The booked service allows two options of fees.
The Transit Booking System, available online, allowing customers who do not want to wait in queue to pay an additional 15% over the regular tolls, guaranteeing a specific day for transit and crossing the canal in 18 hours or less. They sell 24 of these daily slots up to 365 days in advance. Since 2006, there is a 25th slot made available and sold through the Transit Slot Auction to the highest bidder.
The second choice is high priority transit such as military and hazardous goods.
During droughts, shippers bid for priority, with one record in 2023 reaching $3.98 million to jump the queue for a gas tanker.
Standard Fees: Large container ships (Neopanamax) pay over $1 million for standard transit, while cruise ships can pay over $1 million depending on capacity. The bigger the ship and the more people on it costs more. It was approx. $300,000 for our ship to cross.
Historic Low: The lowest recorded fee was 36 cents, paid by adventurer Richard Halliburton when he swam the canal in 1928.
Small Vessels: For yachts under 65 feet, the fee is around $3,000, with a potential $1,000 refund if there are no delays.
I don't have much to say about this section of locks but I did take lots of pictures so here they are.
The gates on the new locks slide back and forth in front of the ship and there are no mules, Tug Boats keep the ships in place. Once they are done they either take a ship back up or they come around to the old locks and go back to the lake.
