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How much does it cost to ship a container to Panama?

To determine the overall price to ship a container to Panama, you will need to provide specific information so that your freight forwarder, carrier, or NVOCC can provide you with a quote.

Information required will include the size of the container (20-foot or 40-foot) that you want to ship, the ports of loading and discharge, details of the goods to be shipped, your service requirements, i.e. Door to door, port to port, or other, and any requirements you have for special equipment such as refrigeration.

Any quote you receive will also take into account factors such as the price of fuel, the route to be used by the carrier, and the season—prices are higher during peak seasonal periods.

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How much does it cost to ship a 20-foot container?

An average price from $2,000 to $3,000  (USD) is the current norm to ship a 20-foot container to Panama.

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How much does it cost to ship a 40-foot container?

If you wish to ship a 40-foot container to Panama, you should be prepared for an average price from $3,000 to $4,200 (USD).

Container Shipping Rates to Panama

Take a look at our table to see some average shipping rates to Panama ports for containerized cargo. Note that shipping in 20-foot containers is often the cheapest option. If your freight will not fit in a 20-foot unit, you’ll need to pay a little more, since rates are higher for shipping 40-foot containers.

LCL rates are not included in the table, as pricing is subject to more complex calculations than FCL shipping, and based on the volume and weight of your goods.

Port of Loading
 Port of Discharge Container Size FCL Rates From (USD)
Puerto Limón, Panama Port Everglades, FL 20-foot $2,250
Puerto Limón, Panama Port Everglades, FL 40-foot $2,375
Puerto Limón, Panama Houston, TX 20-foot $2,000
Puerto Limón, Panama Houston, TX 40-foot $2,125
Puerto Caldera, Panama Los Angeles, CA 20-foot $3,750
Puerto Caldera, Panama Los Angeles, CA 40-foot $4,750
Puerto Caldera, Panama Charleston, SC 20-foot $2,250
Puerto Caldera, Panama Charleston, SC 40-foot $2,375
Port of Balboa Charleston, SC 20-foot $2,250
Port of Balboa Charleston, SC 40-foot $2,375
Port of Balboa New Orleans, LA 20-foot $3,000
Port of Balboa New Orleans, LA 40-foot $3,500

How Long Does it Take to Ship a Container to Panama?

Average transit times for shipping a container to Panama depend on where the shipment will originate. For example, routes from ports on the American continent often involve less transit time than from European ports. Shipments from Asian ports often involve the lengthiest transit times.

Our table outlines some ranges of transit times to Panama for containers shipped from various ports around the world.

Port of Loading
 Port of Discharge Transit Times (Days)
Shanghai, China Puerto Limón, Panama 30-35
Hong Kong, China Puerto Limón, Panama 25-30
Rotterdam, Netherlands Puerto Limón, Panama 20-25
Antwerp, Belgium Puerto Limón, Panama 22-27
Hamburg, Germany Puerto Limón, Panama 24-29
Valencia, Spain Puerto Limón, Panama 18-23
New York, USA Puerto Limón, Panama 12-16
Miami, USA Puerto Limón, Panama 8-12
Miami, USA Puerto Caldera, Panama 12-15
Los Angeles, USA Puerto Caldera, Panama 18-22
Santos, Brazil Puerto Caldera, Panama 22-26
Singapore, Singapore Puerto Caldera, Panama 40-45
Jebel Ali, UAE Puerto Caldera, Panama 35-40
Sydney, Australia Puerto Caldera, Panama 45-50
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Panama container shipping services

Why deal with multiple forwarders and carriers when you ship cargo to Panama?

Why not put all your export or import logistics under one roof?

Our integrated container shipping services make it easy to do just that. We’ll handle your goods’ transportation as ocean freight for the international leg of its journey, and road freight for the rest. 

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Ocean

Ocean Freight

Our FCL and LCL ocean freight services are competitively priced, professionally managed, and offer complete transparency with live tracking, so you never have to wait and wonder about the status of your cargo en route to Panama.

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Road Freight

Combine ocean freight shipping with container drayage in Panama and your country of export, or if you need non-containerized road freight, take advantage of our domestic and international FTL and LTL trucking services.

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Our Industry-Specific Container Shipping Services

If you’re interested in shipping goods to Panama for the electronics, chemical, food & beverage, aerospace, or construction industries, you’ve come to the right freight forwarder, as we frequently work with customers in these sectors and our teams understand their specific logistics requirements.

To learn more about our expertise and services for any of these key industries, please use the links to visit the relevant pages on our site.

Ocean freight to Panama

The choice of shipping modes and services is one of the key benefits of ocean freight transportation. For example, when you ship with us, you can choose from port-to-port, door-to-port, port-to-door, or door-to-door container shipping, and from less-than-container-load (LCL) and full-container-load (FCL) services as appropriate for your shipment’s size and your logistics needs.

To help you decide whether you should ship your exports to Panama as FCL or LCL freight, here are a couple of rules of thumb.

If you do not want your freight to be transported in a shared container, along with other shippers’ goods, it’s probably best to choose FCL shipping, even if your consignment will only partially fill a container. That’s because FCL freight services ensure exclusive use of a shipping container.

FCL is also an economical option for any consignment of freight requiring more than 15 or 16 cubic meters of container space. However, if you think your consignment will not exceed this threshold by much, it could be worth obtaining quotes for both FCL and LCL shipping.

For consignments of considerably less than 15 cubic meters in volume, or fewer than five pallets, shipping your goods as LCL freight typically becomes the more economical option. Your LCL freight will be consolidated with other shippers’ freight in a 20-foot or 40-foot container.

Rates are lower for this type of shipping as they are based on a volumetric calculation, meaning you pay only for the space your LCL consignment occupies in the container.

Port-Kingston

Top 5 container shipping routes to Panama from America

Five of our top routes to Panama from ports in North and South America bring goods for import from the countries listed below.

  • Brazil
  • Peru
  • Chile
  • USA
  • Argentina

Top 5 container shipping routes from Panama to America

Of course, at Interworld Freight, we ship containers out of Panama, as well as bringing them into the country. The countries below are those served by five of our top container shipping routes out of Panamanian ports.

  • United States
  • Chile
  • Peru
  • Argentina
  • Brazil

Main ports in Panama

For a country on the small side, Panama has more than its fair share of ports handling container traffic. We can ship your freight into the country via the following container gateways

Shipping container to Manzanillo 
Shipping container to Colon
Shipping container to Cristobal
Shipping container to Balboa
Shipping container to Port of Panama
Shipping container to Rodman
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