In January 2026 the average Canal Waters Time was 20.30 hours; in May it was 31.20 hours. Monthly transits went from 1,049 to 1,149. Both figures come from the same table of the same monthly document, published by the Panama Canal Authority in the same format for years. What follows is the record of those documents in order, with no interpretation added.
10 February 2026: the summary for January
Advisory A-03-2026 recorded 1,049 oceangoing transits in January, with a daily average of 33.84 and arrivals of 34.2 a day. Canal Waters Time averaged 20.30 hours, with a high of 29.52 and a low of 16.13; In-Transit Time was 10.02 hours. The transit pilot force stood at 295, with 10 in training, 46 tugs and 100 locomotives.
10 April 2026: the summary for March
Advisory A-09-2026 recorded 1,148 transits, a daily average of 37.03 and arrivals of 37.2. Canal Waters Time rose to 21.39 hours, with a high of 32.02, and In-Transit Time to 10.67. Tugs went to 48 and the pilot force stayed at 295.
9 June 2026: the summary for May
Advisory A-19-2026 recorded 1,149 transits, a daily average of 37.06, and Canal Waters Time of 31.20 hours, with a daily high of 61.68 and a low of 17.26. In-Transit Time was 11.06 hours. Tugs reached 49 and the pilot force remained at 295.
10 July 2026: the summary for June
Advisory A-23-2026 recorded 975 transits, the lowest of the five months, with a daily average of 32.50 and arrivals of 33.8. Canal Waters Time fell to 23.80 hours, with a high of 52.06; In-Transit Time stayed at 11.01. The pilot force went to 294.
10 August 2026: the summary for July
Advisory A-26-2026 recorded 1,055 transits, a daily average of 34.03 and arrivals of 35.4. Canal Waters Time was 25.38 hours, with a high of 41.13, and In-Transit Time 10.87. The split by beam was 175 vessels under 91 feet, 570 between 91 and 107, and 310 neopanamax of 107 feet or more.
Canal Waters Time and transits, side by side
| Month | Transits | Canal Waters, hours | High of the month | In-Transit, hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2026 | 1,049 | 20.30 | 29.52 | 10.02 |
| March 2026 | 1,148 | 21.39 | 32.02 | 10.67 |
| May 2026 | 1,149 | 31.20 | 61.68 | 11.06 |
| June 2026 | 975 | 23.80 | 52.06 | 11.01 |
| July 2026 | 1,055 | 25.38 | 41.13 | 10.87 |
Between January and May Canal Waters Time rose 53.7% and In-Transit Time 10.4%. Between January and July the first rose 25.0% and monthly transits 0.6%. The daily high of May, 61.68 hours, is 2.09 times the high of January. Both rows are measured in hours and come from the same table of each advisory.
The slots, and why the percentage passes 100
Each summary includes a slot table with three categories and an auction row. In July 2026 it shows 163 slots available and 183 used for neopanamax, 506 and 463 for Supers, 137 and 120 for Regular vessels, and 306 and 247 in auction. In January the figures were 148 and 173, 503 and 475, 115 and 129, and 350 and 246.
The percentage accompanying those rows passes 100 in several of them. The reason is printed in the same document: the available column “does not include additional auctioned booking slots” and the used column “includes booked transits only”. Those are two different denominators in one table, so the percentage does not measure occupancy and is not used as such in this text.
What was fixed and what stayed an announcement
The five documents record facts that have already happened: those vessels transited, they occupied those hours, those slots were reserved. The second page of each summary, by contrast, carries the schedule of locks maintenance, where every row has a status of its own: some appear as “Completed” and others as “Tentative”. That distinction belongs to the document itself and separates what was executed from what is planned inside the same advisory.
Each summary also carries a line of validity: “This advisory will be canceled for record purposes” on the last day of the month following publication. The document therefore declares itself temporary, and the series exists as a series only if it is kept month by month.
Open points
What part of the rise in Canal Waters Time corresponds to waiting and what part to operation? The summaries publish Canal Waters Time and In-Transit Time, but not the difference between them as a line of its own, and subtracting one row from the other would produce a figure no document supports. Nor do they publish the number of additional auctioned slots included in the used column, so the distance between the two denominators of the slot table remains unquantified. And the months of February, April and August 2026 were not reviewed on this occasion, against the five that were, May among them, so the series ordered here has five points and not eight. With those three absences, whether May was an episode or a level cannot be answered from the documents consulted.
Este material tiene carácter informativo y no constituye asesoramiento legal, fiscal ni financiero. No se cita ningún precio de cupo, ninguna renta ni vacancia de bodegas, ni ninguna cifra de los meses de febrero, abril y agosto de 2026: esos datos no fueron verificados para este texto.
