Can Panama Become More Than a Canal?
More trade is using the route. Panama wants to earn from the cargo, not only the passage.
Hormuz disruption pushed more US energy cargoes toward Panama.
Daily traffic rose close to the canal’s practical limit of 36–40 transits.
Auctioned slot prices nearly tripled, from around $135K to $400K.
One company reportedly paid $4M for a single passage.
The canal became more valuable—but its limits became more visible.
Panama’s answer is not simply more transits.
It is a bigger trade system around the canal.
Energy is changing the route
The canal already moves around 1m barrels of LPG per day, much of it from the US Gulf Coast to Asia.
