How Much Does It Cost to Go Through the Panama Canal?

If you’re going to ride a yacht or transport cargo through the Panama Canal, be ready to pony up some serious cash. The cost to go through the Panama Canal equates to a big stack of cash.

When I first put up this post I had just handed in a magazine story on Panama and was going through my notes from the trip. I visited the Panama Canal for the second time. The first time I actually went through it on a 14-person ship, while the second time I just went to the Miraflores Locks visitor center.

I made a third trip to the Panama Canal in 2018, but the prices for the transit have changed so many times we updated this post again in 2025. You find out lots of factoids when visiting the canal, but I’m most fascinated by the commerce side of it. Obviously it’s easier for a shipping company to go through here than to spend an additional 22 days sailing around the bottom of South America, so they’re willing to pay. A lot.

There are different fees for different ships and cargo, as in you’ll pay less to transport grain than you will to transport liquified natural gas, then a different fee structure applies if you load Apple watches into cargo containers. 

You can sort through the tariffs online, but from what I can tell, according to the latest tolls published by the Panama Canal Authority, commercial ships now pay $12,000 to $100,000 just to reserve the passage, depending on their size, and then the passage itself can total up to $300,000 before they start adding additional fees per ton based on the number of containers the ships are carrying.

If a ship has not reserved ahead and just shows up, it’s like someone trying to buy a concert ticket from a scalper: market forces prevail and they have to enter an auction to big on a passage slot. 

In a system that seems like it was copied from U.S. airlines, there are lots of extra fees on top of that. A captain has to actually turn over the bridge to a Panamanian lock pilot for the transit and there are robotic guides with cables leading the ships through tight spaces. There are fees for “dead weight,” refrigerated vessels, and passengers on a cruise ship. Warships and dredge boats have a different fee structure.  

When they exit the other side of the Panama Canal, that transit alone could add $300,000 to $500,000 to the cost of the goods on the ship. So if you’re in Boston getting coffee from Sumatra or a car from Korea, keep this in mind when you look at the price of what you’re buying.

Many people believe that goods they get from Asia travel by land across the USA, which some goods do on trains or buses. But more often, containers that travel across or up the Pacific come through the Canal to reach East Coast ports if the items are bound for New York, DC, or Florida, for example. It can be faster and, in the end, less expensive. That includes wine from Chile and chocolate from Ecuador.

What is the most expensive Panama Canal crossing?

That charge above is chump change though compared to some recent larger vessels hosted by the wider canal. That wider section of the canal was a massive project that now allows full container ships through. This engineering feat cost billions and billions to pull off, so you can bet those ships making use of it are paying handsomely. Before the expansion, the record was $461,000 paid by one ship. Then the record jumped to $800,000 (for a large cruise ship on a tight schedule) and then one passed $1.1 million. No wonder this canal supplies 12% of Panama’s gross domestic product.

In 2023 a new record was set because the country experienced a period of low rainfall and ships were stacked up waiting for entry to the canal. One liquified natural gas company paid $2.4 million to skip to the front of the line, bringing their total charge up close to $3 million. The record didn’t last though. Soon after that a Japanese natural gas shipper paid $4 million to skip to the front of the line and go through. 

These records will probably hold as long as water levels stay where they need to be. If there’s another drought though, look out. 

Speaking of prices, you’ll pay a surcharge if you go on a cruise ship through the Panama Canal. Starting in February 2022, the Panama Canal Authority changed the way they charge cruise ships from per berth to per ton. For the first 10,000 tons it costs a Cruise ship $5.25 a ton or a whopping $52,500 to go through the canal. The per-ton price goes down just slightly for each additional 10,000 tons that a ship is carrying. Enjoy the ride that day on your Central America cruise—you’ve paid handsomely for it.

When I first put this article up I got a lot of people complaining that I did list how much exactly a Panama Canal passage adds to the price of a cruise, but it seems irrelevant really: a Panama Canal cruise is going to cost you far more than one that just putters around the Caribbean. If you want to go through the canal, pay it and don’t worry about the line itemization.

The price varies by the size and weight of the ship, but figure on an additional $500 per person at the low end, up to $3,000 more each for one of the stacked-up-high cruise ships. Check prices here. 

Check the current conditions before booking a cruise though: as mentioned before, low water levels in 2023 were causing long back-ups for ships to get through so some pleasure cruises had to turn back or change their route. 

Sailing a Pleasure Boat or Yacht Through the Panama Canal

So what about the poor soul trying to live a lifelong dream of sailing around the world?

It’s definitely better to go small than to look like a new money tech tycoon. If you look at the official toll prices here and scroll way down on the price list, small ships pay a $1,600 to $4,100 toll at the canal depending on length. But, just like with container ships, there are additional charges tacked on that make this journey pretty hard on the pocketbook.

Boats under 65 feet (19.812 meters) pay a $2,150 toll as of 2025 and from 65 feet up to 80 feet $3,200. Ships between 80 feet and 100 feet pay a toll of $4,660, 100 feet is $6000. All these small vessels pay a $165 security deposit as well.

The cost for reserving your slot to go through the canal is $10,500 for ships less than 91 feet long and the fee jumps to $40,000 and $50,000 for ships bigger than 107 feet long. If you decide you want to stick around, mortgage and anchorage fees start at $75 a day for the first 30 days. There is also a $75 inspection for all small vessels, regardless of size.

You’ll also need the right lines for tie-up and a big enough crew to secure them all. No, you can’t use a credit card. (Or cocaine. Supposedly someone tried that once.) You can send it all by wire transfer now though and if you’re short, have some $100 bills on you for the unexpected.

If you’d like to just see a bit of the (slow) action instead, entrance to the Miraflores Locks complex has gone up a lot over the years and is currently more than $17 for adults, less for kids and seniors. More info here. A guided tour was once included, but now if you hire one you’ll spend more on that than you probably will on your Panama City hotel room.

The museum has gotten better over the years though and there’s a restaurant and bar on site. If you’re a Panama resident, you only pay $3 and kids are free.

The place must be raking in money because when I last toured Panama on an small ship cruise there were hundreds of people streaming in and out at all times. Later when we passed in a ship there was still no space along the observation deck railings for the people looking out at us.

Keep in mind these rates go up every few years, so check the latest before you pull up to the canal opening in your own boat so you don’t come up short on funds.

If you ask me, a couple days in Panama City is plenty and there are far more interesting places to go within a few hours. So have some fun here then get out into the countryside or to the beaches. See the Visit Panama site for ideas and gorgeous photos. Or check tour options here: 

If you decide you like this country enough to consider it as a place to live or retire, there are a lot of good incentives in place and it’s a relatively straightforward and fast country for getting residency as a foreigner. See lots of details in this post:The Cost of Living in Panama for Expats.

Do ships from specific countries pay more than others?

One of the many lies put forth by the angry orange one is that somehow the USA pays more to send ships through the Panama Canal than others. As is often the case for what comes out of his mouth daily, this is complete bunk: the rates are openly published and are the same for everyone, regardless of nationality. 

The USA sends more business to the canal, but that’s because it’s the wealthiest country in the hemisphere, it spends more per consumer than anyone, and it has major ports on both coasts. It is also the home base for many of the cruise companies that pass through. On top of all that, it has one of the largest navies and it moves its ships between oceans. 

The other related big lie is that China controls the canal. They control a few nearby ports, yes, and have invested in infrastructure in Panama (as has the USA), but the workings of the canal itself are all in Panamanian hands. All the land along the canal is 100% owned by Panama. It’s a neutral passageway and an international asset that has managed to steer clear of this kind of political noise for 25+ years since the handover. 

For what it’s worth, all the prices laid out above are similar to what ships passing through the Suez Canal are paying, also determined by market forces, not nationality. I guess he’ll threaten to invade Egypt next…  

This post on how much it costs to go through the Panama Canal was updated in February of 2025. 

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