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# The Panama Canal Will Auction Panamax Slots for the First Time. That Is the Lane Most Caribbean Cargo Uses.
- URL: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/panama-canal-lotsa-panamax-sealed-bid-auction-cancellation-surcharge-2026/
- Published: 2026-10-09T23:43:30.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-11T05:16:56.000Z
- Description: Advisory A-37-2026, issued by the Panama Canal Authority on 5 October 2026, opens the Panamax locks to advance sealed-bid slot auctions for the first time, averaging three slots a day for transits between 3 January and 3 April 2027.
- Author: Theon Alleyne
- Tags: Shipping, Trade, CARICOM, Panama Canal, Analysis

**Quick summary:** Advisory A-37-2026, issued by the Panama Canal Authority on 5 October 2026, opens the Panamax locks to advance sealed-bid slot auctions for the first time, averaging three slots a day for transits between 3 January and 3 April 2027\. The same advisory cuts the booking cancellation window from seven days to four on 15 October.

By LCN Business Desk

The Panama Canal has sold transit slots at auction for years. It has never sold them in advance at the Panamax locks, which is the chamber most Caribbean cargo moves through.

That changes on 24 November, when the Authority opens a sealed-bid competition for Panamax slots covering the 2027 dry season.

## What did the Authority actually announce?

Two separate things in one advisory, and only one of them has been widely reported. [Advisory to Shipping No. A-37-2026](https://pancanal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/ADV-37-2026-Long-Term-Slot-Allocation-Program-2027-and-Modification-to-Transit-Reservation-System-tariffs.pdf?ref=lacaribenanews.com), dated 5 October 2026 and signed by Vice President for Operations Boris Moreno Vásquez, is headed "Long-Term Slot Allocation Program 2027 and Modification to Transit Reservation System tariffs".

The first half extends the Long-Term Slot Allocation programme, which the Authority calls LoTSA, to a second set of locks. The second half tightens what a shipper pays for cancelling late.

The stated purpose of the programme is planning certainty. LoTSA "allows customers to secure a package of transit slots for the full period in a single transaction, reducing their reliance on daily booking competitions," and the Authority says committing capacity earlier "enhances planning certainty, particularly when water availability is limited."

## What changes for the Panamax locks?

They acquire an advance market they have never had. The advisory puts it plainly:

"For the first time, customers transiting the Panamax locks may secure slots in advance through a sealed-bid auction."

The pilot uses the same award mechanism, selection criteria and tie-breaking rules as the existing Neopanamax programme, and offers an average of three slots a day. The Authority says it is intended for fixed-itinerary customers "and those whose customer-ranking position makes it more difficult to obtain slots through the regular booking system."

Only Fixed packages are offered, with a single level of flexibility. A new FixSlot package is introduced for all other market segments, excluding Full Container, LNG and LPG vessels.

Those three Panamax slots are not additional capacity. They are carved out of the lane's existing allocation, and the advisory says the three will be reduced during the first two booking periods, with four slots possibly freeing up at the first period competition and seven at the second.

## What else takes effect on 15 October?

A cancellation penalty that bites nearly twice as early. From that date the Authority temporarily modifies the Booking Late Cancellation Surcharge under tariff 1050.IBC9, first announced in Advisory A-28-2026, "by reducing the applicable cancellation threshold from seven (7) days to four (4) days."

The surcharge "remains at 250% of the reservation fee", and now applies to cancellations made four days or less before the required arrival time.

It also applies to vessels that fail to arrive within seven days after that time, sits on top of charges under tariffs 1050.IBC4, 1050.IBC5 and 1050.IBC10, and runs until further notice.

**15 October is already a marked date.** It is the day the Authority's previous advisory raises daily transits to 33, as reported in [The Panama Canal Has Given Back One Slot of the Two It Took](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/panama-canal-draft-49-feet-slots-33-reversal-caricom-2026/). The tariff change lands the same day and has travelled with none of the same attention.

## Why does this lane matter to the Caribbean?

Because the capacity that came back did not come back here. The tenth slot restored on 15 October goes to the Neopanamax locks. The Panamax locks stay at 23, where an August advisory left them.

So the lane that did not recover a slot is the lane now being opened to advance bidding.

| Panama Canal daily slots | From 15 September | From 15 October |
| ------------------------ | ----------------- | --------------- |
| Neopanamax locks         | 9                 | 10              |
| Panamax locks            | 23                | 23              |
| Total                    | 32                | 33              |

Slot figures from Advisory A-29-2026 and the advisory of 28 September 2026\. The Panamax figure is arithmetic on the Authority's own two numbers.

What an auction does to a constrained lane is already on the record. A single vessel paid US$5.3 million for one crossing during this year's squeeze, reported in [A Ship Paid US$5.3 Million to Cross the Panama Canal](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/panama-canal-slot-auction-record-allocation-2026/). The Caribbean Private Sector Organisation has put the region's exposure to the canal's restrictions at between US$8 billion and US$10 billion of imports, covered in [The Panama Canal Cut Its Daily Booking Slots to 32](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/panama-canal-slot-cuts-caricom-import-exposure-2026/).

The restrictions behind all of it were driven by water. The Authority ordered five successive reductions to the loading limit between July and September, charted in [Panama Has Cut the Canal's Loading Limit Four Times in Nine Weeks](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/panama-canal-draft-cuts-el-nino-caribbean-shipping-2026/), and the season ahead is the one [NOAA has put a 69 per cent chance of a record El Niño](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/noaa-puts-a-69-chance-on-a-record-el-nino-the-last-comparable-one-cut-guyanas-rice-crop-by-37/) on. The booking dates this programme covers, January to April 2027, are the dry season.

For a region that imports most of what it eats, the freight line is not an abstraction. CARICOM's own agriculture ministers spent last week asking the region to buy Caribbean, a gap set out in [CARICOM's Agriculture Ministers Asked the Region to Buy Caribbean](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/caribbean-week-agriculture-belize-jamaica-chamber-price-gap-2026/).

## What are the dates?

| Event                | Neopanamax                       | Panamax                                      |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| Competition          | 17 November 2026, 10:00 to 12:30 | 24 November 2026, sealed bids 10:00 to 14:30 |
| Implementation       | 29 November 2026                 | 16 December 2026                             |
| Booking dates        | 3 January to 3 April 2027        | 3 January to 3 April 2027                    |
| Next cycle announced | January 2027                     | January 2027                                 |

Source: Advisory to Shipping No. A-37-2026, 5 October 2026.

Terms and conditions are published by the Authority at its LoTSA page, and the advisory directs enquiries to the Authority's LoTSA and operations service addresses.

### What the title card shows

Every data point on the article's title card, in text. Source for all: Advisory to Shipping No. A-37-2026, Panama Canal Authority, 5 October 2026, except where stated.

- **3 slots a day.** The average offered under the new Panamax sealed-bid auction, the first time Panamax slots can be bought in advance. They come out of the lane's existing allocation rather than being added to it.
- **3 slots a day.** The average under the continuing Neopanamax programme, on the same award mechanism, selection criteria and tie-breaking rules as before.
- **24 November 2026.** The Panamax sealed-bid competition, with bids accepted from 10:00 to 14:30\. The Neopanamax competition is 17 November.
- **7 days to 4 days.** The cut to the booking late cancellation threshold under tariff 1050.IBC9, effective 15 October 2026.
- **250 per cent.** The late cancellation surcharge as a share of the reservation fee, unchanged.
- **3 January to 3 April 2027.** The transit dates the programme covers, which are the dry season.
- **23 slots.** The Panamax daily allocation, unchanged on 15 October while the Neopanamax locks rise from 9 to 10\. Source: Advisory A-29-2026 and the advisory of 28 September 2026.
- **US$5.3 million.** The most a single ship has paid to cross the canal this year, reported by La Caribeña News in August 2026.

## Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Panama Canal changing?

Advisory A-37-2026 of 5 October 2026 extends the Long-Term Slot Allocation programme to the Panamax locks for the first time, through a sealed-bid auction offering an average of three slots a day for transits between 3 January and 3 April 2027.

When is the auction?

The Panamax competition is on 24 November 2026, with sealed bids accepted from 10:00 to 14:30\. The Neopanamax competition is on 17 November 2026\. Implementation follows on 16 December and 29 November respectively.

What is changing on 15 October?

Two things. Daily transits rise to 33 under the Authority's previous advisory, and the booking late cancellation threshold falls from seven days to four under tariff 1050.IBC9\. The surcharge itself stays at 250 per cent of the reservation fee.

Does this add capacity for Caribbean shippers?

No. The three Panamax slots are drawn from the lane's existing allocation rather than added to it, and the Panamax daily total stays at 23 while the Neopanamax locks gain the one slot restored on 15 October.

Which vessels are excluded?

The new FixSlot package is offered to all other market segments excluding Full Container, LNG and LPG vessels.