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Largest Ship To Transit Canal


BillB48
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Although Canal Authority no longer ballyhoos the toll paid by a ship, it certainly looks like the toll paid by the Cosco Development is in record territory. The figure quoted is just over $1 million! That figure is consistent with the a previously announced record toll paid by the MOL Benefactor of $800K about a month after the opening of the expansion. The Benefactor carried 8000 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit containers) while the Development carried 13,000 TEUs.

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And then if you go back to when the first real Panamax container ship went through the Canal in the mid 70s, it was under 2000 TEUs. It was a fairly large ship named the Tokyo Bay, IIRC 950x105. Guess the 13,000 TEU ships are only considered "mid-sized"!! Things have changed.!

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  • 3 weeks later...
Can I ask a question? (Other than the first...ha ha) are you in forwarding? Curious because most people outside of the forwarders industry has no real.idea what a TEU is.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Forums mobile app

 

I'm a merchant ship's Chief Engineer, and I've carried TEU's (and FEU's) all over the world.

 

I don't know what Bill's line of work is, but he grew up in the Canal Zone, and I believe his father was a canal employee.

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Like the old Hank Williams Jr. song... Family Tradition... Grandfather construction days, Father and then me too! Probably dragged through the locks every type of ship you could think of. Bulkers, tankers, break-bulk and of course container ships. Don't claim to all that old, but I can remember when they actually were 20' containers. The first ships I recall seeing that was a true container ship were the 100 passenger Grace Line "M" ships and they carried only the 20' container.

 

Guess in an odd sense I was into forwarding;)!

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Like the old Hank Williams Jr. song... Family Tradition... Grandfather construction days, Father and then me too! Probably dragged through the locks every type of ship you could think of. Bulkers, tankers, break-bulk and of course container ships. Don't claim to all that old, but I can remember when they actually were 20' containers. The first ships I recall seeing that was a true container ship were the 100 passenger Grace Line "M" ships and they carried only the 20' container.

 

Guess in an odd sense I was into forwarding;)!

I'm in forwarding so that is my infatuation woth the canal. Sonce we deal woth a lot of different canals at work I thought it would be I treating to do this as a cruise. That is scheduled to happen in 2019! (Just booked yesterday!). Thank you for your answer!

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Forums mobile app

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Well, records are made to be broken... The OOCL France has become the largest ship to transit the Canal at 1202'x158'. Technically she was 2' over the length limit. A few pictures and a short video in the link.

 

http://gcaptain.com/oocl-containership-sets-new-panama-canal-record/

 

Thanks Bill. The photos of the ship in the locks are amazing.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If I were to pick a time frame based on weather alone I would choose January and into February. The Dry Season is usually well established by then and the temps and humidity are about as good as they will get. Don't use this as the sole choice in your decision as the differences in the other time periods are slight... use it as a tie breaker with other times.

 

There are virtually no cruises through the Canal from the middle of May until the end of September

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Thanks Bill. Jan or feb good time for panama canel. What is the difference between a full and partial.crossing?

 

A full transit is just what the name suggests -- you enter at one end of the Canal and exit at the other end. You've gone through all the locks (Atlantic and Pacific), and transited Gatun Lake between them. Typically, a full transit will require that your cruise start somewhere in Florida and end up somewhere in California (or the other way around). Some full transits are even longer cruises, e.g., as part of a ship's repositioning to or from South America to North America.

 

A partial transit takes you only through one set of locks, typically on the Atlantic side. The ship will turn around in Gatun Lake, and you'll exit the Canal through the same locks through which you entered. From what I've read on here, you may have an opportunity while the ship is anchored in Gatun Lake to take certain ship-sponsored tours, including a small boat tour through the Pacific locks. (I've only done a full transit, so hopefully others will give you more info on partial transits.)

 

There's tons of info here on this board; using the search engine will be a big help to you.

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Thanks Bill. Jan or feb good time for panama canel. What is the difference between a full and partial.crossing?

 

Turtles06 summed up the partial vs full transit well. I will add that most people including me, would recommend the full transit over the partial transit as the most rewarding way to experience the Canal. That doesn't mean that a partial transit is not a good selection, actually it can be an excellent alternative. Once you transit the locks and reach Gatun Lake the are a number of ship's tours you can select for the Canal stop. If you opt for the tour that takes yothrough the Pacific Locks and Gaillard Cut on another smaller vessel (often times referred to as a ferry) you can get to see a large part of the Canal. The advantages of the partial transit appeal to many since it is a round trip cruise and can be completed in less time than than a full transit. The partial transit cruise is a great cruise and I have done several along with a number of full transits.

 

Just in case you are on the west coast, Princess reintroduced an occasional partial transit cruise originating from California and entering the Canal from the Pacific side. On this cruise the ship will travel through the two Pacific Locks, Gaillard Cut and sail across Gatun Lake to right near the Gatun Locks. This is the same area where the partial transits from the Atlantic side will end up. At this point the ship will offer shore excursions in the same manner. The difference is the ship will spend the night at anchor in Gatun Lake and then reverse its route and sail back out of the Canal and return to California. This really is a marvelous itinerary since it provides you with two almost complete transits of the Canal. The only down side is that it is a longer cruise of about 19 days and for some that might be hard to schedule the time away... but it is a wonderful itinerary!

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That is going to be a hard one to answer for a couple of reasons. In regards to best I would say if you have a particular cruise line you like now I would start my search for Canal cruises with them. All of the popular cruise lines... Princess, Celebrity, HAL etc. do a good job with their Canal cruises. What makes them "better" is usually what the individual cruiser likes in that particular cruise line. By that I mean the general vibe of the ship, entertainment particularly when it comes to the destination and enrichment lectures, food and so on.

 

When you say large are you referring to ships that are 3000 or so passengers? This swerves into another area since these ships will only be able to use the new expanded parts of the Canal and very few of the cruise lines have announced plans to use their newer and larger ships in the expanded Canal at this time. Presently the only cruise lines that have announced using their large ships at the Canal that I am aware of are Princess, NCL and Carnival Most of the people that I have talked with would prefer to go through the original locks particularly if it is their first time through the Canal. Looking for a Canal cruise going through the original locks is probably going to be much easier to find a cruise that will match your needs.

 

Here are a few names of ships/lines that have been used recently on Canal cruises to give you a place to start. There are others but the ones listed below have had the largest numbers of Canal cruises to pick from.

 

Coral Princess

Island Princess

Celebrity Infinity

HAL Zuiderdam and other HAL ships as well

 

In regard to the ships that will use the new locks... Caribbean Princess is going to offer partial transits from Florida starting in October and the Norwegian Bliss is going to be making a full transit some time next year. Carnival has also announced a full transit on one of their larger ships as well.

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What Panama Canal cruise spends the most time in Costa Rica.

 

On most cruise lines they only spend one day in any Costa Rican port. Partial transits will call at Limon. Full transits port calls are usually at Puntarenas or Caldera which is also just a one day stop, even though they have different names it is the same general area.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Single cabins on ships are not all that common, while they can be found there are usually not that many of them and they go fast. IIRC HAL has some on some of their ships as well as NCL I believe have some... I don't know which ship/s however. Just an observation... the few times I have looked, the solo cabins are priced about the same as a passenger occupying a double cabin alone... sometimes even higher.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You are very welcome, I think you have selected a fantastic itinerary! Actually the only part of the Canal you will not transit is Gatun Locks, but I am sure there will be some sort of excursion that will let you to visit Gatun Locks which will be nearby where the ship is anchored after the first half of your partial transit.

 

Since you will be on the Island unless there is some sort unpredictable circumstance, the Island will use the old locks. Right now the transit slots available for the larger ships to use the new locks are in demand, so if a ship can use the old locks it will.

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