AUTORIDAD DEL CANAL DE PANAMÁ 3654 (OPXI) OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT v. 3-2-2011 ADVISORIES ARE AVAILABLE AT http://www.pancanal.com FOR ETAS OR DIRECT COMMUNICATION WITH OUR OFFICES, REFER TO NOTICE N-3-2011 OP’S ADVISORY TO SHIPPING No. A-09-2011 May 6, 2011 TO : All Shipping Agents, Owners, and Operators SUBJECT: Monthly Canal Operations Summary – April 2011 1. Panama Canal Statistical Summary: a. Transit Pilot Force .................................................................................................283 b. Pilots in Training .................................................................................................12 c. Tugs .................................................................................................32 d. Locomotives ..................................................................................................100 2. Traffic Statistics: Daily Average High Low Arrivals 37.37 53 27 Oceangoing Transits 38.03 44 30 Canal Waters Time (hours) 24.56 33.04 15.92 In-Transit Time (hours) 10.51 12.60 8.23 Oceangoing Transits: Total Daily Average Percentage Vessels of less than 91 ́ beam 449 14.97 39.35 Vessels 91 ́ beam and over 692 23.07 60.65 Total: 1141 38.03 Vessels 100’ beam and over 581 19.37 50.92 Vessels 900 ́ length and over 134 4.47 11.74 Booking Slots: Available Used Percentage Large Vessels (beam 91' and over) 510 331 64.90 Regular Vessels (beam less than 91') 240 196 81.67 *Does not include additional auctioned booking slots ¹ Includes booked transits only 3. The following page provides the scheduled locks maintenance work and other items of interest to the shipping community. 4. This advisory will be canceled for record purposes on May 31, 2011. ORIGINAL SIGNED _______________________________ Manuel E. Benítez Executive Vice President of Operations AUTORIDAD DEL CANAL DE PANAMÁ 3654 (OPXI) OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT v. 28-01-2011 OP, May 6, 2011 Subject: Monthly Canal Operations Summary – April 2011 1 The normal transit capacity of the Panama Canal is 38-40 vessels per day, depending on vessel mix and other factors. This capacity is reduced during locks maintenance work, as indicated in the above table. Consequently, vessels may experience delays in transiting. Normally, during these periods, the Panama Canal Transit Reservation System slots are fully utilized. Whenever a set of locks requires a major outage of one of its two lanes for dry chamber inspection, miter gate repairs, tow track work or other major maintenance/improvement projects, advantage may be taken of this requirement to perform simultaneous single lane outages for additional maintenance at other locks. $43 MILLION CONTRACT AWARDED FOR DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF NEW BACKHOE DREDGE The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has awarded a $43 million dollar contract to Dutch company IHC Engineering Business Ltd., a part of IHC Merwede Group, for the design and construction of a new backhoe dredge. The addition of this new dredge to the ACP’s existing fleet, in December 2012, will increase the ACP’s ability to effectively dredge as part of the Expansion Program and future maintenance projects. IHC Engineering Business Ltd. will be responsible for the design, construction, tests and delivery of the hydraulic backhoe dredge. The dredge, powered by diesel engines, will have the capacity to dredge to a depth of 18 meters underwater with a bucket of at least 11 cubic meters. Five other companies participated in the public international bid, which was