Panama Canal to reduce shipping over El Nino-fuelled drought
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The number of vessels allowed through the waterway each day will be lowered from 36 ships to 34, falling further to 32 from Sept 15.
PHOTO: AFP
- The Panama Canal will reduce daily ship passages from 36 to 32 starting September due to an El Nino-fuelled drought causing low rainfall.
- The canal relies on rainwater in two artificial lakes and already lowered the maximum draft for the largest vessels to conserve water.
- El Nino, occurring every 2-7 years, is causing one of the strongest droughts in Central America, impacting key trade routes and prompting regional drought alerts.
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Panama City – The Panama Canal will reduce shipping volumes from September because of a drought fuelled by the El Nino phenomenon, the operator of the strategic waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans said on Aug 20.
From Sept 3, the number of vessels allowed through each day will fall from 36 to 34 due to low water levels in two artificial lakes that feed the canal, the Panama Canal Authority said.
It will drop to 32 from Sept 15 onwards, the agency said.
Central America is in the throes of a severe drought driven by El Nino, a weather pattern that warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, triggering worldwide changes in winds, atmospheric pressure and rainfall.
Rainfall from May to August in the canal area was down by 34 per cent from its historical average, the authority said, adding that El Nino could cut it even more.
The Panama Canal handles 5 per cent of global maritime trade and around 40 per cent of US container traffic.
The canal operator said that lower-than-forecast rainfall in the canal’s watershed called for measures to bolster the long-term sustainability of the waterway.
It has already implemented other water conservation measures, such as lowering the maximum draft – the vessel’s depth in the water – for the largest ships.
In 2023, the water level in the lakes feeding the canal was so low that the waterway’s operators cut the daily ship transit number from 38 to 22.
It said on Aug 20 that with the upcoming reduction, waiting times for ships trying to get through without making a reservation beforehand will increase.
Nine of 10 ships using the canal do so with a reservation, and the remaining slots are auctioned off.
Before the Iran war, the average winning bid in these auctions was US$135,000 (S$171,000). But in April, one shipping company eager to use the canal paid a whopping US$4 million.
The operator said it does not rule out further restrictions on shipping, depending on how much it rains in the coming weeks.
The US-built canal’s main users are the United States, China, Japan, Chile and South Korea.
Water is a touchy issue in Panama because the lakes that feed the canal also provide water for half the population of 4.2 million people.
El Nino occurs on average every two to seven years, and the 2026 El Nino is shaping up as one of the strongest on record.
On Aug 19, the government of Honduras placed 80 per cent of that Central American country on drought alert. AFP
