Panama Canal breaks several records in September
The Panama Canal Authority on Wednesday said the canal broke one annual record and set two new single-day records in September.
The waterway surpassed its annual mark of transiting 300 million Panama Canal tons for the first time in canal history, broke the record for the transit of Panamax ships and set another record in total Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) tonnage transit in a single day.
The canal also tied its record for the transit of 'super' vessels — ships measuring 91 feet or more in beam.
The new transit record of 25 Panamax vessels set on Sept. 19, breaks the previous mark of 24 in July 2003. On the same day, a record 1,113,682 PC/UMS tons transited the waterway, breaking the record of 1,072,353 set on May 6. On Sept. 20, the waterway surpassed the 300 million Panama Canal tons barrier, well above the 296.1 million tons reached in the previous year.