Canal Requirements

Time is always of importance in the shipping industry and transit of a vessel through the Panama Canal is certainly no exception. It cannot be stressed sufficiently that as much notice of an impending transit of a vessel be given by her Owners of Operators to this Agency in order to provide a complete breakdown of Canal transit expenses so that funds can be transferred in a timely manner, thus securing the earliest possible transit.

Approval of Plans

(1) The plans for new construction or modification for each vessel or class of vessels should be submitted to the Transit Operations Division for review prior to modification or construction. A minimum of two and a maximum of four sets of copies of each drawing should be submitted. The ACP will retain for its records and files a single set of the drawings submitted and will return only up to three sets of copies of the principal drawings submitted. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in delay or denial of transit because of unsuitable or unsafe arrangements.

(2) The numerous constraints affecting the transit schedules of vessels and tows make it important that information provided in advance of the initial transit include the following documents for approval (a minimum of two copies of each drawing must be submitted):

• General Arrangement (indicating deployed boarding facilities, blue steering light and pilot shelters/platforms)
• Mooring Arrangement (indicating chock/bitt sizes and maximum safe working load/strain capacities)
• Wheelhouse Arrangement (showing required aids to navigation, such as indicators, wipers, horn controls, radar and others)
• Visibility Calculations (indicating compliance with ACP visibility requirements) .
• Section Views showing the vessel inside the lock chamber pressed against both, center and side walls, indicating clearances of protrusions from lock structures and equipment (for vessels with protrusions – the locks chamber drawing may be downloaded from the Panama Canal web page at http://www.pancanal.com/eng/op/notices/index.html Locks Composite Maximum Clearances Limiting Dimensions.pdf ).

For reference only (one copy of each drawing retained for our records):

• Midship Section (or Shell Expansion and bilge radius information, if the Midship Section is not available)
• Engine room plans
• International Tonnage Certificate
• International Load Line Certificate
• Detailed drawings of chocks and bitts showing sizes and maximum strain capacities, if not indicated in the mooring arrangement.

This advance information will minimize the possibility that transit might be denied due to noncompliance with Canal regulations.

(3) Vessels that have had the appropriate plans approved will normally retain such approval unless it is determined by the Transit Operations Division manager that modifications are necessary to ensure safe transit.

(4) The Transit Operations Division accepts electronic drawing submittals via email or by regular mail in diskettes.

(5) The drawings are to be saved in a format type, which minimizes file size and is readable by or compatible with AUTOCAD2002. All drawing and letter files comprising the submittal are to be zipped together into one zip file using the WinZip file compression software. Please note that the Canal e-mail system limits attachment size to less than 1.5MB.

(6) After review, the submittals will be stamped electronically and returned via email, zipped. In this manner the recipient has better control of the number of prints needed for their internal distribution.

Additionally, and for the purpose of admeasurement, vessels transiting the Canal for the first time need to present an International Tonnage Certificate (69) (ITC 69) or a substitute document deemed acceptable by the Authority, based on a system substantially similar to that of the Panama Canal.

These vessels have to provide plans, classification certificates and documents with information stating the Total Volume of the vessel or sufficient information to the Admeasurement Unit (MRTD) to determine this volume through mathematical calculations. For more on this you may refer to Agreement No.2, Article 5 of the “Maritime Regulations for the Operations of the Panama Canal” which may be downloaded from http://www.pancanal.com/eng/maritime/regulations/ and http://www.pancanal.com/eng/legal/reglamentos/acuerdo2-eng.pdf. There is no charge for ACP admeasurement calculations if the ‘ITC 69’ values submitted are confirmed. If ‘ITC 69’ values are not confirmed the vessel will have to be admeasured and the ACP will assess appropriate charges.

Herebelow is the list of drawings/documents that have to be submitted to the Admeasurement Unit (MRTD) prior to transit. This is in addition to the plan approval requirements listed above.

• Lines Plan (or offsets table, if Lines not available)
• Midship Section (or Shell Expansion and bilge radius info, if Midship not available)
• General Arrangement
• Cargo Securing Manual (container section)
• Capacity Plan
• International Tonnage Certificate
• International Load Line Certificate
. Suez Tonnage Certificate (if it has one)

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