Passage Planning Guide: Panama Canal and Approaches 2020 ed.

This brand new passage planning guide is an expert resource for navigating the Panama Canal. Written in consultation with the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), it includes A2-sized chartless of the entire canal and essential information on every aspect of using both the Panamax and the Neopanamax locks. Passage Planning Guide: Panama Canal and Approaches (2020 Edition) is the most comprehensive navigational guide to the Panama Canal to date. It builds on the research and experience gained since the 2014 'Guidance for LNG Carriers Transiting the Panama Canal' by SIGTTO. The large format chartless and supplementary navigational and procedural data in this new guide support Masters and officers in maintaining the highest safety standards in these constrained waters. The user friendly format of this publication will also help to ensure a successful transit for the increasing numbers of Neopanamax ship Masters, who may be completely unfamiliar with the canal, due to changing patterns of global trade and the 2016 expansion of the locks. This title supersedes 'Guidance for LNG Carriers Transiting the Panama Canal' by SIGTTO. The Panama Canal is a controlled and managed waterway that connects the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, at the Isthmus of Panama. While the Canal is strictly governed, and pilotage is compulsory, it is also extremely busy and requires that ships' officers are fully familiar with what is required from the ship in order to ensure a safe and timely transit of the Canal. The Canal is regulated and managed by the Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP) (the Panama Canal Authority). The Canal is open for commercial operations 24 hours per day and all communications are conducted in the English language, both on the bridge and between ships. Although the Atlantic Ocean is geographically to the North and East of the Canal and the Pacific Ocean is to the South and West of the Canal, due to its winding shape the terms 'Northbound' and 'Southbound' are used for simplicity of communications, eg 'Southbound' refers to a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. This Guide provides details on the safety requirements and procedures for ships transiting the Canal, and should be read in conjunction with the Panama Canal Regulations, which are updated annually and are made available online at www.pancanal.com. The ACP website contains Notices to Shipping and Advisories to Shipping. Advisories contain the latest information for ships, such as draught restrictions and lane outages, and are updated frequently.