Panama Chaos Grows As US Diesel Shippers Bypass Canal

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The worsening bottlenecks at the drought-stricken Panama Canal are pushing at least one U.S. diesel shipper to sail around the tip of South America en route to Chile for the first time since 2020.

Green sky 

The vessel Green Sky is hauling ultra-low sulphur diesel loaded at Citgo Petroleum Corp.’s Clifton Ridge terminal in Louisiana to Valparaiso, Chile, according to Bloomberg vessel tracking and Kpler.

The journey is expected to take about a week longer than it would via the canal at a time when freight rates are near record highs.

The cost to haul fuel from the U.S. Gulf Coast to Chile surged to a record $4.6 million per shipment in late November, according to data from Argus Media.

Diesel cargo

While Green Sky’s journey marks the first U.S. Gulf Coast diesel cargo to go around South America in three years, refiners in Texas and Louisiana are known to divert cargo across the Atlantic to European markets when the Panama route is jammed.

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Source : Supply chain

 

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