Panama Canal auctions

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is offering auctions on extra transit slots for vessels that have become trapped in queues waiting to get through the canal's locks. Regular auctions have seen slots sold for almost US$4 million - meaning that it is only for container ships that the transit makes economic sense. For crude oil tankers one of the "long ways round" has been deemed financially more sensible. Vessels that have been waiting for 10 days or more are able to pay a one-off fee to transit the canal. Extremely low levels of rainfall have left the lake that feeds the canal with limited water.