Drought-hit Panama Canal to restrict access for one year

PANAMA CITY

The drought-hit Panama Canal will maintain restrictions on the passage of ships for one year, a measure that has already led to a marine traffic jam as boats line up to enter the waterway linking two oceans.

The canal is facing a shortage of rainwater needed to transfer ships through locks that function like water elevators, an engineering marvel that moves 6 percent of the world's maritime commerce.

The canal's sub-administrator Ilya Espino said unless heavy rains fall in the next three months, "we are looking at a period of one year" of restricted access.

That period will give clients "a year to plan" how to adapt, she said.

Each ship moving through the canal requires 200 million litres of freshwater to move it through the locks, provided by two artificial lakes fed by rainfall in a surrounding watershed. The lakes also supply drinking water to half the country of about 4.2 million people.

However, Panama is facing a biting drought, made worse by the El Nino warming phenomenon, which has forced canal administrators to restrict the waterway to ships with a maximum draft (water depth) of 13.11 metres. 

In 2022, an average of 40 ships crossed through the canal a day, a number which has now dropped to 32 to save water.

The measures have caused a back-up of ships waiting to enter the 80-kilometre waterway, which is mainly used by clients from the U.S., China, and Japan.

Waiting times, usually between three and five days, have gone up to 19 days at times, although they currently stand at around 11 days.

Earlier this month canal operators said the restrictions were likely to result in a $200 million drop in earnings in 2024 compared to this year.