One ship in Panama Canal paid $2.4 million to skip the line

[Judi Lynn]

The high payment was in addition to a standard transit fee of around $400,000

Published: September 03, 2023 00:16
Bloomberg



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Image Credit: AP

Shippers are paying up to $2.4 million per vessel if they want to beat a logjam of carriers waiting to sail through the drought-affected Panama Canal, according to one company active in the market.

The high payment - in addition to a standard transit fee of around $400,000 - was made recently by one unnamed party in order to get a slot allowing its carrier to transit the waterway more quickly, shipping company Avance Gas Holding Ltd. said in its earnings report this week.

The Panama Canal Authority, which holds auctions for those wishing to queue jump, said in an email Thursday that the fees haven't reached a new high this year, without providing further details. The authority said the highest bids are typically won by carriers transporting liquefied petroleum gas or liquefied natural gas.

. . .

"You can skip the queue but it's immensely costly," Oystein Kalleklev, Avance Gas's chief executive officer, said in an earnings call. "It's gone rapidly up. When you add the regular fee you're getting close to $3 million to get your ships through."

More:
https://gulfnews.com/business/markets/one-ship-in-panama-canal-paid-24-million-to-skip-the-line-1.1693685857466

[magicarpet]

1. Kinda like American politics,...

.... the fatter your wallet,.. the quicker your access for a political solution to your problems.

Pay to play,.. laissez-faire capitalism branding of Democracy.

It used to be called bribery of the political system,... now it is called legal lobbying to get your way.

Capturing Democracy to your benefits with your excessive financial resources to gain access and get it done. Becomes Democracy only for the rich and well to do fat cats. The rest of the population languishes by the wayside because they can't afford the entry fees to join in the game or access the fast track preferential treatments.

[Chainfire]

2. It doesn't matter to the gas companies. If it cost them and extra $.10 per gallon, they simply

raise the price by $.20... They don't have to be competitive.

[IbogaProject]

3. 24,000 containers fit on a cargo ship

So that doesn't add too much per transit. And oil can be 200,000 to 500,000 barrels, which is ten or more millions of gallons. So the above estimate of +$0.10 per gallon might not be far off. Whew what a world. I still remember arguing with a physics professor in a "Science and Social Science of Energy" class about whether burning fuel would add up, when the CO2 levels were already well above 300ppm by 1988. He was conservative and very pro nuclear. I'm scared of the waste that will surely outlast current containment vessels, and to even try to store in materials that will last long enough extra cost is needed that no one wants to pay.

[Duppers]

4. Best "containment vessels"

Are DEEP underground.


(My PhD physicist son is pro-nuclear but he is very liberal & has 40 IQ pts on me, so I don't attempt to argue with him. )