By DON WINNER for
Panama-Guide.com - The non-declared and unofficial "malicious compliance" strike by the pilots of the Panama Canal started on 15 February 2008, and the effect of that action lasted until today, almost four months later. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) today issued their Advisory to Shipping A-16:
"Panama Canal Transit Reservation (Booking) System - Return to Normal Number of Booking Slots for Supers." In that advisory they state that "For the past several days, the vessel backlog has remained under 50, and the waiting time has decreased to less than two days." And, they announce the lifting of measures taken in March to reduce the backlog. (more)
A Return to Normal: Here's the text of the advisory:
- June 6, 2008
- MR’S ADVISORY TO SHIPPING No. A-16-2008
- TO : All Steamship Agents, Owners, and Operators
- SUBJECT: Panama Canal Transit Reservation (Booking) System – Return to Normal
- Number of Booking Slots for Supers
- On March 24, 2008, the Panama Canal Authority announced in Advisory to Shipping A-09-2008, a temporary reduction in the number of booking slots for supers due to the large number of non-booked vessels awaiting transit through the Panama Canal, in addition to other measures taken to reduce the vessel backlog.
- For the past several days, the vessel backlog has remained under 50, and the waiting time has decreased to less than two days.
- Therefore, effective June 9, 2008, the number of available booking slots for supers will return to 17.
- Requests for these slots may be received beginning 0900 hours, Friday, June 6, 2008, and the limits by direction will return to ten for vessels transiting in the southbound direction and nine for vessels transiting in the northbound direction, as established in Advisory to Shipping A-02-2008.
- Based on present and projected arrivals over the next few days, some of the measures taken on March 28, 2008 are hereby rescinded. Therefore,
- • Maintenance work on critical equipment will be resumed.
- • Scheduling of non-commercial handlines will return to a maximum of two lockages in each direction, each day.
- ORIGINAL SIGNED
- Manuel E. BenítezExecutive Vice President of Operations
The Yachters Will Be Happy: The last line - "scheduling of non-commercial handlines will return to a maximum of two lockages in each direction, each day." That means they are going to start letting non-commercial and pleasure craft back through the canal on a more regular basis. There was a real backup of yacht and sail boats waiting to get through, caused as a result of the congestion in the canal.
Take A Look At This: Traffic through the Panama Canal dips between June and September, and then starts to pick back up again in December, peaking in February -
The Backlog is Under Control: Normally these backlogs caused by lane outages are cleared out in a matter of days, not months. In any case, the levels or arriving ships has apparently fallen to the point that, even with the canal operating at a much less efficient level, the backlog has melted away. Strike? What strike? We have no idea what you're talking about...
Copyright 2008 by Don Winner for
Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.
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