LNG

The Qatari Q-Flex liquefied natural gas carrier, the “Al Safliyah”, has become the largest LNG vessel to transit the expanded Panama Canal in a test for future tanker movements that could improve the economics of the export plant build-out on the US Gulf Coast.

The Panama Canal Authority will boost the number of daily reserved transit slots available for LNG vessels by reserving night-time slots starting in October 2018 and would make more infrastructure improvements to allow another increase by 2022.