PANAMA CANAL SETS 96-HOUR PRE-ARRIVAL NOTICE
The Panama Canal Authority has advised all shipping that the canal will require pre-arrival notification of 96 hours, effective July 1.
Currently, the canal requires notification 48 hours ahead of a vessel’s arrival.
Article 30 of the canal’s Regulation on Navigation stipulates that ships “shall communicate by radio” unless the information had been previously given to the authority “by other means.”
The canal’s administration “may, in exceptional cases, establish a shorter period of time than the one established in this article,” the rule noted.
Failure to comply with the pre-arrival reporting rule “may subject a vessel to a delay in transiting,” the article warned.