The authority managing the Panama Canal will reduce the number of ships allowed to transit the waterway from next month because of a drought caused by El Niño, the agency that runs the strategic route linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has said.
The Panama Canal Authority said Thursday that water levels have dropped in the two artificial lakes that supply the canal. As a result, only 34 ships a day will be allowed to transit starting September 3, down from 36. That number will be further reduced to 32 starting September 15.
El Niño has caused drought across Central America. Rainfall in the Panama Canal area was 34 percent below the normal average from May through August, and is expected to fall further.
About 5 percent of global maritime trade and roughly 40 percent of U.S. container traffic passes through the Panama Canal. Water levels in the lakes that supply the canal also fell in 2023, when daily ship transits dropped from 38 to as low as 22.
The canal authority said the current situation will increase waiting times for ships that have not booked a transit slot in advance. Typically, nine out of every 10 ships using the canal book in advance, with the remaining slots allocated through auction.
Before the Iran war, the average winning bid in these auctions was $135,000. Last April, one shipping company bid as much as $4 million to use the canal. Other major users of the U.S.-built canal include China, Japan, Chile and South Korea.
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