Thread: Panama Canal pileup due to drought reaches 154 vessels

• There are 154 commercial vessels waiting to cross the Panama Canal, with an average wait time of 21 days.
• Panama Canal Authority has reduced the number of ships allowed to pre-book transit through the Panamax locks, and restrictions due to ongoing drought conditions will remain in effect until August 21.
• 40% of all U.S. container traffic travels through the Panama Canal every year.
• “This is going to get worse before it gets better,” said one marine shipping expert.

The number of vessels waiting to cross the Panama Canal has reached 154, and slots for carriers to book passage are being reduced in an effort to manage congestion caused by ongoing drought conditions that have roiled the major shipping gateway since the spring. The current wait time to cross the canal is now around 21 days.

The Panama Canal is a critical trade link for U.S. shippers heading to Gulf and East Coast ports.The U.S. is the largest user of the Panama Canal, with total U.S. commodity export and import containers representing about 73% of Panama Canal traffic. Forty percent of all U.S. container traffic travels through the canal every year, about $270 billion in cargo.

The massive pileup is a result of water conservation measures the Panama Canal Authority deployed in late July due to drought. The PCA has temporarily lowered the availability of booking slots from August 8-August 21 for Panamax vessels, which are the largest vessels that can cross the canal. These vessels can carry 4,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), which are the dimensions of a container. The number of pre-booking slots was reduced to 14 daily from 23.

Panama Canal shipping pileup due to drought reaches 154 vessels

From what I understand this is mostly because of unseasonal drought conditions, but also because of deforestation and development in the areas of the freshwater lakes that feed the canal lock system.