The Panama Canal reduces the draft of ships due to drought

He Panama Canal will gradually decrease until 43 feet (13.11 meters) next July, maximum draft in locks neopanamax in the face of the drought that the country is going through and that has reduced the artificial lakes that feed the interoceanic highway.

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) he announced this in a navigation notice dated June 14 and accessed by EFE this Monday, in which he states that he “corrects the draft in meters of the limit of 43.0 feet and separates the dates and draft limits by lock game”.

Starting this Monday, the Canal offers neopanamax, which is three times the size of vessels passing through the century-old locks, a draft of “44 feet (13.41 meters), which will be reduced to 43.5 feet (13.26 meters) on the 25th. June and 43 feet (13.11 meters) from the following July 19.

The maximum draft offered by the channel extension is 50 feet.

The ACP “will continue to monitor the level of Lake Gatun and will announce future draft adjustments in due course,” the shipping notice said.

As early as April 19, the waterway began implementing its fifth draft restriction for Neopanamax vessels, which were offered draft 47.5 feet.

Draft is the depth that the submerged part of the boat reaches in the water. In practice, its reduction implies that ships must reduce the volume of cargo they carry when crossing the interoceanic route through which about 3% of world trade passes.

An official source told EFE that these adjustments are linked to the prolongation of the dry season Panama is going through, a situation that has caused water supply problems and forced the authorities to declare an “ecological emergency”.

Two artificial lakes flow into the canal Gatun (1913) and Alhajuela (1935)which supply water to the capital of Panama, the metropolitan area and surrounding areas, i.e. almost half of the population of this Central American country of 3.4 million inhabitants.

Administrator from Panama Canal, Ricaurte Vásquezwarned that if the drought in that Central American country continues, it will have to decide, as an “extreme measure”, whether to limit daily transits on the interoceanic route from the current 36 to 28 ships.

Amid the severe drought that Panama experienced in 2019, the maximum draft at the Neopanamax locks was temporarily reduced to 44 feet (13.4 meters)which meant a drop in toll revenue, according to official data.

The climate system of Panama is dominated by rainy and dry seasons. The first starts from May and lasts approximately until November, and the second goes from December to April, but that year has been extended.