OOCL Utah’s near-collision on Sunday with a Panama Canal lock gate suggests a tragic and costly accident is waiting to happen, say experts.

Video footage shows a fore-positioned ‘alpha’ tug almost crushed between the Hong Kong-flagged containership and the canal’s Agua Clara lock gate. There was no aft-situated ‘delta’ tug to stop the vessel.

Representatives of the Panama Canal Captains and Deck Officers Union told The Loadstar how a lack of procedures and under-resourcing by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) left pilots – paid per ...