After more than two years in the planning, the Oyster World Rally fleet 2024-25 has now transited from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans via the Panama Canal. However, what is normally a relatively simple procedure, with timings known well in advance, was a little more complicated this time around.
The Oyster Yacht Rally organisers received notice some nine months ago that the Panama Canal was running at 50 percent capacity due to a drought in Panama and surrounding countries and that the Rally’s transit booking had been cancelled.
Each lock operation along the canal takes up to 197 million litres of water with just 60 percent reuse, this means that with each lock, a lot of water slips into the oceans and not back into Gatun Lake, the body of water that facilitates the operations. With Gatun Lake being 50 percent lower than normal, this means the canal cannot run at 100 percent capacity and in turn this has meant huge queues at both ends of the canal. Some larger vessels, such as cruise ships and container vessels, have had to pay a high premium to keep to schedules.
