The Panama Canal Authority is aiming to lure back lost energy trade with changes to its booking system for LNG canal transits, and with a new LNG pipeline project offering energy and tanker companies an alternative to move the commodity across the critical global shipping gateway.
Ricaurte Vásquez, administrator of the Panama Canal Authority, tells CNBC that the canal is moving closer to reinstating a preferred booking slot system for LNG carriers as a way to bring back more of the business. LNG prebooking was removed during drought years and has not returned to date.
“We most likely will reinstate that window of reservations for LNG vessels effective next year,” Vásquez tells CNBC. The Panama Canal has moved to a long-term slot allocation approach, a booking system that allowed for a full year of reservations, but he conceded it “was used very little by LNG this year.”
“We have revamped the product after conversations with customers,” he said, and he added that the Panama Canal Authority plans to announce additional packages for LNG transits that would provide flexibility in changing the tanker type and transit dates.
“I think it’s going to be helpful for them to schedule transits to the Panama Canal,” Vásquez said. “We have some packages that will be very specific, and we have seen shipping companies that go for very specific transits. ... We are fine-tuning some of the elements after conversations with the industry, and I think that is going to help,” he added.
