Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Panama Canal Holds Maritime Lottery for First Transit Through New Channel

As Historic Day Dawns One Vessels Name Gets the Chance of Immortality (Well Pub Quiz Answer)
Shipping News Feature
PANAMA – WORLDWIDE – The Panama Canal will hold a draw on April 29, to select the first vessel which will transit through the Expanded Canal when it is inaugurated on Sunday, June 26. The Panama Canal invited its top 15 customers to participate in the draw for the inaugural transit, and those interested in participating were required to indicate the Neopanamax vessel's name, type and dimensions that it plans to deploy on the inauguration day of the Expanded Canal.

The proposed vessel is required to not surpass a maximum beam of 49 metres and a maximum overall length of 366 metres. In addition, the maximum draft or point of immersion for the inaugural transit will be 12.5 metres. For security purposes, gas carriers will not be considered for the inaugural transit.

The draw will be carried out with ballots labelled with the name of each participant. A child will select the first ballot and hand it to the Public Notary who will announce the winner of the draw. Afterwards, the same child will pick a second ballot for the shipping line that will be able to deploy a vessel for the inaugural transit in the event that the winner informs the Panama Canal by May 10 that it will not be able to deploy an approved vessel for the inauguration.

Only one Neopanamax vessel in southbound direction will be allowed to transit the Expanded Canal for its inauguration during daylight hours. Regular commercial transits through the Expanded Canal will commence on June 27.

The event will be streamed live on the the Panama Canal's YouTube channel.