The term Panamax (also PanMax) is a concept derived from sailing, defining size standards for ships, particularly container ships, which can still fit through the locks of the Panama Canal due to their size.
Brief description
Panamax ships can exhibit lengths of up to 294 meters, widths of up to 32.3 meters and draft depths of up to 12.04 meters, so that they can still pass through the Panama Canal. This generation of seagoing vessels, however, has been giving way for some time to much larger ships (Post-Panamax-ships). Despite the fact that these new seagoing giants, with capacities of up to 7,000 and even 9,000 TEUs (20′ Container), are surpassing canal sizes, however, the Panama Canal still plays an important role especially in maritime traffic between Asia and the US East Coast.
However, reckoning with current developments, it was voted in Panama in 2006 to widen the Canal so that in the near future larger ships could also pass through this sea route.
