Panama Canal Closes 2019 Fiscal Year with Record Tonnage

The Panama Canal has closed the 2019 fiscal year (FY19) with a record tonnage of 469 million Panama Canal tons (PC/UMS), a 6.2 percent increase compared to FY2018 according to the Panama Canal Authority. This exceeds the 450.7 million PC/UMS tons projection for FY2019, as well as the record tonnage of 442 million PC/UMS tons registered in 2018.

During FY19 transits for the liquefied natural gas rose by 37.6%. Liquefied petroleum gas rose by 6.9%. These were the largest percentage gains across all segments. Other segments with significant transit increases included crude product tankers with a 5.6% increase and vehicle carrier/RoRo with a 5.5% increase compared to the previous fiscal year.

In terms of tonnage, the container segment took the lead with164.87 million PC/UMS tons during FY 2019. Leading segments also include bulk carriers at 76.5 million PC/UMS tons, vehicle carrier Ro/Ro at 53.1 million PC/UMS tons, chemical tankers at 44.3 million PC/UMS tons, LNG vessels at 43 million PC/UMS tons, LPG vessels at 37.8 million PC/UMS tons, crude product tankers at 22.6 million PC/UMS tons and passenger vessels at 9.9 million PC/UMS tons.

The main routes using the Panama Canal by cargo tonnage in FY19 were the U.S. East Coast and Asia, followed by the U.S. East Coast and the West Coast of South America, Europe and the West Coast of South America, the U.S. East Coast and the West Coast of Central America, and the U.S. intercoastal route.

The main users of the waterway during FY19 were the United States, China, Japan, Chile and Mexico.