The Panama Canal is currently experiencing serious delays at both the Atlantic and Pacific sides, with a total of 129 ships waiting at anchorages at both sides, according to gCaptain.
The current waiting times have stretched for several days, with non-booked cargo ships waiting at anchor since October 15, 2015.
The vessels arriving on the south side have been waiting for as long as eight days, having arrived as far back as October 14, 2015.
Watch a video of the Panama Canal expansion’s October update
According to recent updates by Marine Traffic, the ships are travelling at speeds of around 3 knots, as they need to anchor to deal with the congestion issues.
Weather conditions are said to be the cause of the waiting times, and the eight-day wait is drastically different in comparison to the maximum of 30 hours of ‘Canal Water Time’ they expect from transits.
Historically, the total time to sail the Panama Canal was 15 hours (8 hours of this time is spent waiting).
The canal’s expansion is still on track to be completed in April, 2016 after an announcement made by Jorges Quijano, the canal authority’s administrator, that the canal would be sticking to its forecasted opening time despite construction problems.
(Source: Marine Traffic)
