Moving Through the Canal

Panamax ship movement: lock and waterway moves, zones and capacity, groups, pushing, Military ships, leaving the canal and the Unique ships

Movement actions

• There are two kinds of move. A lock move takes a ship or group through a lock-move icon; a waterway move through a waterway icon. Ships follow the arrows and never turn back.
• A Movement die gives lock moves equal to the number at the foot of its column (1–3) and waterway moves equal to the empty spaces left in the column once the die is gone. An Executive Movement die gives 3 waterway moves and lock moves equal to its value.
• You must use all the moves you were given, in any order, on any ships that can move, whoever owns them. Only when no legal move remains does your movement end — check carefully.
• Captain cards and the Move 3 free action give moves of either kind in any mix (Official FAQ).
• Set the two markers on the Movement track to what you owe and count them down.

Zones and capacity

The canal is a chain of zones: dashed rectangles, the two lakes and the oceans.

A ship only moves when it carries at least its minimum load (Military ships are always ready).

Groups

• Ships with no more than 4 slots together may move as a group, formed from ships in the same or adjacent Loading zones or in the same half of a lake. Forming a group there is a choice (Official FAQ).
• One move moves the whole group.
• When ships enter a dashed rectangle that already holds ships, and all of them fit in 4 slots, they become one group — not a choice.
• A group cannot split until it reaches a lake or leaves the canal. In a lake ships may regroup freely or move on alone.

Locks and pushing

• If a dashed rectangle has no room for the ships you move in, the ships already there are pushed forward one zone, and they push whatever is ahead of them in turn.
• Pushing costs no extra moves: only the moving group uses a move of the matching kind.
• Ships in a lake or an ocean are never pushed — pushing stops there.
• Pushed ships still deliver and earn their bonuses if pushed out of the canal; only Military ships pay nothing when pushed (BGG thread).

Military ships

• USS Iowa (US East), NRP Sagres (EU), USS Pegasus (US West) and PLAN Yi Yang (China) carry no dice, are always ready to sail and take up slots.
• With any part of a Movement action you may move any Military ships. When you move one (not push it), you — the player, not the company — get $1 per flag of its nation on your Clipboard, up to $3, whatever the distance.
• You are paid for one Military ship per action of your choice: once for your die, once more for each Captain card and each Move 3 free action (BGG thread).
• A Military ship that leaves the canal goes to that ocean’s Waiting zone and may sail again at once, even the same turn, from either adjacent Loading zone (BGG thread).

Ship arrival

A ship or group leaves the canal when a lock move takes it out into the ocean. Then, ship by ship in exit order:

1. Each company earns $1 per pip of its own dice on the ship.
2. The ship’s owner takes one reward, to personal money or hand:

Picture	Arrival reward for the owner
	1-slot: Take the top Captain card or $2. A card earned this turn waits until a later turn (FAQ).
	2-slot: Take the top Stevedore card or $3.
	3-slot: Take a Financial Advisor card or $5. Decide before looking; if you search the pile, you must keep a card (FAQ).

3. The dice go to the Dice Pool, and the ship to the Waiting zone of the ocean it entered.

• You may hold only one Captain and one Stevedore card: if you already have one, take the cash.
• You must decide before looking: once you search the Financial Advisor pile you must take a card (BGG thread).

Unique ships

Cruise ships (Dice Fest Line, Lucky Me Cruises, Spiel of the Seas)

• Take only dice showing 1 or 2. Their capacity counts dice, not pips: up to 3 dice, and they may sail with 2.
• On leaving the canal, each die earns its company the top Passenger token — first the player who made the move, then in turn order. The company is paid the token’s value (not the die’s), and the token goes on a Passenger benefit space.
• When the 8 tokens are gone, Cruise ships still sail but pay nothing.

Military ships — see Military ships.

San Juan Prospector (4 slots, 9–18)

• On leaving the canal, each company with dice aboard is paid double for one of them, its choice; the others pay normally. Then it goes to the Waiting zone.

The San Juan Prospector and Spiel of the Seas are not used with 2 players.