Panama Canal increases daily transits to 27

Starting this Monday, daily ship transits through the Panama Canal will increase to 27 following a slight improvement in the levels of the main lake that serves the interoceanic waterway.

The area is plunged into a water crisis due to a severe drought caused by climate change and exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon.

Under optimal conditions, about 36 ships cross the Panama Canal, which applied a reduction in transit from July 2023, so in November last year the figure dropped to 22 ships, and it is planned to even increase to 18 in February this year, it is predicted that in Na in the end they were not realized due to the improvement of water availability.

Thus, the channel announced this month that it is gradually increasing the daily passage of ships through the Panamax locks (centuries old and younger): of the 24 transits established in January, “two additional slots (26) have been added since March 18” and another (27) is available for scheduled transits starting this Monday.

The highway authority reported at the time that this “new adjustment” was “in response to the current and projected level of Lake Gatun”, one of the two that supply the Canal, with the aim of “accommodating the growing traffic demand”.

“There are already signs that there will be rain. (That’s why) we have increased the number of transits per day,” Panama Canal Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez said last week.

Vásquez then explained to the media that “all indications received” and reports “from all international meteorological services indicate that a mild La Niña phenomenon (could) begin in the month of March (or) April.”

“There is a higher probability that the intensity of La Niña will increase in July and August,” Vásquez added.

“We calibrate these forecast models, which we see with a 30-day horizon. So now, looking at the next 30-day horizon, we are announcing to the industry that there is more room for transit through the Panama Canal. Panama,” the administrator said.

The phenomenon of La Niña is a low temperature event and causes severe droughts in the coastal areas of the Pacific, and is the opposite of El Niño (high temperatures).

These estimates would indicate a possible premature onset of rain in Panama, a country with only two seasons: dry (between December and April, but getting longer due to climate change) and rainy (between May and November).

The Panama Canal, which carries about 3% of the world’s trade and opened in August 1914, is suffering from an acute water crisis due to a prolonged drought that has reduced water levels in the main lake that serves the route.

The current crisis stems from the lack of water in the artificial lakes Gatún (1913) and Alhajuela (1935), so the road administration has already identified projects to guarantee water resources, but their completion depends on the decisions of the Panamanian government.

As a result of this climate situation, toll revenue is expected to drop by 800 million dollars in this fiscal year, as the manager told EFE last January.