Shrinking water supplies are forcing the Panama Canal to slow the flow of global commerce, as a drought linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon drives authorities to cut back ship transits.
The Panama Canal Authority said it is responding to low water levels in the two artificial lakes that feed the canal, a critical source for operating the locks.
To manage the strain, the number of vessels permitted to cross the waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans will be progressively reduced from 36 a day to 32 by mid-September.
Panama has declared a nationwide emergency over El Niño, a weather pattern developing over the Pacific Ocean that is triggering worldwide changes in winds, atmospheric pressure and rainfall and pushing up global temperatures.
In 2023, El Niño also forced the canal authority to reduce the number of daily crossings
This year’s El Niño is forecast to be the strongest since comparable records began four decades ago.
Although it has not yet peaked, Central America is already grappling with an intense drought, a situation that has led Honduras and El Salvador to declare emergencies as well.
The Panama Canal handles 5% of global maritime trade and around 40% of US container traffic.
Beyond limiting daily passages, the canal has moved to conserve water in other ways, including lowering the maximum draft – the vessel’s depth in the water – for the largest ships.
In 2023, El Niño forced the canal authority to reduce the number of daily crossings to 22 vessels.
On Thursay, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said a potentially exceptional El Niño warming event is now firmly established in the tropical Pacific and is expected to strengthen significantly into a “very strong” El Niño over the coming months.
The event is expected to continue intensifying through the autumn and peak towards the end of 2026, although its climatic effects are expected to continue well into 2027.
The WMO stresses that El Niño itself is a naturally occurring climate phenomenon and is not caused by human-induced climate change.
However, this El Niño is occurring against the background of an already much warmer planet and unusually warm oceans.
