Heat stroke on the Panama Canal. One of the most strategic crossing points for world maritime trade – 6% of traffic – is bearing the full brunt of the consequences of the drought. Since January, a series of measures aimed at limiting the passage of ships have been put in place to save water. However, the authorities were counting on the rainy season to return to a suitable level. But recent meteorological phenomena have accentuated the phenomenon of evaporation from the channel.
At the end of July, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced the maintenance of measures in the face of the extension of the dry season as long as the weather conditions did not improve. The draft, the submerged part of the hull of a boat is thus limited to 13 meters. In order to respect this tonnage, some boats must reduce their cargo. Around 32 boats per day are then authorized to transit through the canal, compared to around 36 or even 38 in normal times, specifies the Reuters agency.
“The climate is gradually lowering the reservoir levels of the canal, and requires periodically managing the use of water in a sustainable manner,” explained the authorities. Added to this is the threat of El Niño, this climatic phenomenon which appears every two to seven years and which is the cause of significant meteorological incidents. Jostled in their forecasts, the authorities evoke a “historical unprecedented”.
This is not the first time that the canal has faced water shortages. The fall in the level, induced by global warming, is a direct threat to its activity. “This is an issue that the Panama Canal is preparing for, but we could not predict exactly when the water shortage would arrive, nor the intensity that we are currently facing,” said Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, the channel administrator. Unlike other waterways such as the Suez Canal, fresh water is used, not salt water, to fill the locks. With each passage of a boat, nearly 200,000 cubic meters of fresh water are discharged into the sea.
The canal authorities must also take care to guarantee sufficient reserves for the water needs of the population. One of the artificial lakes, Lake Gatún, is one of the main sources for supplying the needs of the country’s capital. Faced with the threat of a shortage of fresh water, the Panamanian government has declared a climate emergency.
80 kilometers long, the Panama Canal, located in the isthmus of Central America, connects the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, thus avoiding boats having to make a long detour to South America via Cape Town. Horn. In 2021, more than 13,000 ships transited through this strategic route, carrying a total of more than 516 million tonnes. A record. New enlargement works as well as new locks were even inaugurated in 2019, to allow the passage of huge container ships of the Post-Panamax class, which can measure up to 366 meters long and 46 meters wide. In a logic of always increasing traffic.
The authorities expect to experience a drop in their income of around 200 million dollars for the next fiscal year due to the lack of water, specifies the Reuters agency. They also anticipate a drop in ship traffic of around 16% per day. While the restrictions may pose a problem for shipowners, it is not excluded that they reorient themselves towards other strategic passages such as the Strait of Magellan or even the Northwest Passage, in the Arctic Ocean. Nevertheless, the drought coincided with a calmer season in terms of traffic, notes the canal authority.
