Panama Canal begins reducing crossings due to El Nino

The Panama Canal has started reducing the number of ships passing through due to a drought caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon. According to RTE News, the number of vessels allowed through the waterway will be progressively lowered from 36 per day to 32 by mid-September. This decision was made due to low water levels in the two artificial lakes that feed the canal.

The Panama Canal handles 5% of global maritime trade and around 40% of US container traffic. To conserve water, the canal has already implemented measures such as lowering the maximum draft for the largest ships. In 2023, El Nino forced the canal authority to reduce the number of daily crossings to 22 vessels.

Panama has declared a nationwide emergency over El Nino, which is expected to be the strongest since comparable records began four decades ago. Central America is already experiencing a severe drought, prompting Honduras and El Salvador to also declare emergencies, as reported by RTE News and Free Malaysia Today.

Brief written by urgent.news from Channel News Asia, RTE News, Free Malaysia Today, Malay Mail — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.