Businesses dole out up to $4 million to cross Panama Canal during Strait
of Hormuz chokehold
[April 24, 2026] By
ALMA SOLÍS and MEGAN JANETSKY
PANAMA CITY (AP) — Businesses have doled out up as much as $4 million to
move boats through the Panama Canal with the Strait of Hormuz
effectively closed, according to the Panama Canal Authority, in a move
that has created a seismic shift in global trade flows.
While passage through the waterway usually comes at a flat rate via
reservations, companies without reservations can cross by paying an
additional fee in an auction for slots, which are awarded to the highest
bidder rather than waiting for days off the coast of Panama City.
That price has ballooned in recent weeks as Iran and the United States
have bottlenecked the key shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz, and
demand for those slots has skyrocketed. Ships have increasingly traveled
through the Panama Canal as shipments are rerouted and buyers purchase
from other countries to avoid commerce through now-treacherous Middle
Eastern waterway.
"With all the bombings, the missiles, the drones ... companies are
saying it's safer and less expensive to cross through the Panama Canal,"
said Rodrigo Noriega, said lawyer and analyst in Panama City. “All of
this is affecting global supply chains.”
Meanwhile, Noriega said Panama's government is “maximizing what it can
earn from the Panama Canal.”
The average price to cross through the canal ranges between $300,000 and
$400,000 depending on the vessel. Previously, to get an earlier
crossing, businesses would pay an additional $250,000 to $300,000. In
recent weeks, the average additional cost has jumped to around $425,000.
Ricaurte Vásquez, the canal’s administrator, said another company that
he would not name paid an extra $4 million when its fuel vessel had to
change its destination because of ongoing geopolitical tensions.
"It was a ship carrying fuel to Europe, and they redirected it to
Singapore, and it needed to get there because Singapore is running out
of fuel,” he said.
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 Other oil companies paid an excess
of $3 million in addition to the crossing fee to accelerate their
passage in the face of soaring oil prices.
Vásquez said that ships have not piled up at the canal, but rather
the costs can be attributed to last-minute shifts and greater
urgency by vessels needing to get from one point to another faster
in the wake of larger trade chaos.
Vásquez emphasized that the costs were not a
blanket market rate, but rather a temporary toll shouldered by
companies.
"They decide how high a price to go,” Vásquez said.
At the same time it's earning more money from the new business,
Panama's government has also been dealt a blow by the geopolitical
struggle.
On Wednesday, the country's foreign ministry accused Iran of
illegally seizing a Panama-flagged vessel from the Italian company,
MSC Francesca, in the Strait of Hormuz.
Panama, a country with one of the world's largest ship registries,
said the ship was “forcibly taken" by Iran. It wasn’t immediately
clear if the boat remained in Iranian custody.
“This represents a serious attack on maritime security and
constitute an unnecessary escalation at a time when the
international community is advocating for the Strait of Hormuz to
remain open to international navigation without threats or coercion
of any kind,” it said.
Noriega, the analyst, said that the amount companies are paying to
cross the Panama Canal may only go up if the conflict continues to
stretch on, as oil prices are already skyrocketing. The price of a
barrel of Brent crude oil briefly jumped above $107 this week,
soaring from around $66 a barrel a year ago.
“No one really foresaw the potential effects (the war) would have on
global trade,” Noriega said.
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