Panama Canal starts cutting daily ship crossings to 32

The Panama Canal began reducing ship crossings on Friday because drought linked to El Nino has lowered water levels in the artificial lakes that feed the waterway, the Panama Canal Authority said.

Daily transits will be progressively reduced from 36 vessels to 32 by mid-September. The canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and handles about 5% of global maritime trade and around 40% of US container traffic.

Authorities have also used other water-saving measures, including limits on the maximum draft of large ships, or how deep they sit in the water. The canal depends on freshwater, mostly from rainfall stored in artificial lakes, and its locks use water to lift and lower ships during crossings.

Panama has declared a nationwide emergency over El Nino, a weather pattern developing over the Pacific Ocean that is changing winds, atmospheric pressure and rainfall and pushing up global temperatures. Central America is already facing a severe drought, and Honduras and El Salvador have also declared emergencies.

This year's El Nino is expected to be the strongest since comparable records began four decades ago, although it has not yet reached its peak. In 2023, El Nino forced the Panama Canal Authority to reduce daily crossings to 22 vessels.