Gatun Lake levels have improved with seasonal rainfall, allowing the Authority to lift transit slot allocations back toward 36/day. Auction prices for unbooked slots have fallen materially from the 2024 peak but remain above pre-drought norms.
For USGC LPG and clean exporters into Asia, the cost-of-transit improvement is meaningful: roughly $0.50/bbl removed from the delivered cost of an LPG VLGC cargo into Chiba.