The US Maritime Commission is monitoring the situation in the canal

It is a serious international economic disruption, the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has warned because of the situation facing the Panama and Suez Canals.

This committee recently held an informal public hearing on the matter situations in these two sea routes.

Commissioner Carl Bentzel said the impacts of what is coming must be considered because of the risk to traffic on one major shipping lane and the 50% reduction in another.

The executive branch recalled that maritime transport drives more than 90% of US international trade. The decline in maritime traffic cannot be easily overcome, air alternatives cost between 8% and 10% more and, subject to price and volume constraints, can only supplement maritime trade.

Drought-induced service reductions in Panama Canal They amount to about 50% of the total availability of transit, and reductions in shipping capacity of those shipping lines that pass through the canal are reduced by 5 to 15% due to low water levels.

“The longer these situations last, the greater the economic impact will be. “We’re already hearing about auto plant closures in Europe as a result of shipping-related supply chain disruptions, and we’re just at the beginning of this challenge,” Bentzel said.

According to the commissioner, there is still time to take action because the implications of shipping events tend to lag behind cargo unloaded today, reflecting shipping conditions that existed four or five weeks earlier when that ship departed from a foreign port.

“But make no mistake because in two or three months shipping conditions will change,” he pointed out.

As for the situation in Suez, the commissioner pointed out that since the time of the Barbary pirates, they have not faced a challenge like the current one.

“We are evaluating to determine if we can open an investigation and see if the actions in Yemen are causing unfavorable conditions for maritime traffic in foreign trade,” he said.