Panama Canal yet to see tariff hit, but it could be coming soon
- April canal transits rose 9% in neopanamax locks versus March, and declined 6% in the panamax locks
- Sequential gains in the neopanamax locks were driven by higher transits by containerships, VLGCs and LNG carriers
- The US-China trade war is a future headwind for transits of neopanamax containerships, VLGCs and panamax bulkers
So far so good for the Panama Canal. The numbers for April just came out and there was no trade war fallout evident. But US tariffs and Chinese retaliatory tariffs could start showing up in the numbers this month