A longer dry season and a less rainy wet season have led to a shortage of freshwater to feed the Panama Canal.
August 30, 2023, 1:49 PMA cargo ship navigates through the Panama Canal in the area of the Cocoli Locks, in Panama City, Aug. 25, 2023.Low water levels at the Panama Canal are causing a traffic jam at the historic trading route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, threatening to ensnarl the holiday shipping season and raising alarm among canal officials.
BRAD MIELKE: Remember when the Suez Canal in Egypt backed up because of a boat accident, basically? Hundreds of ships patiently lined up for days while the world’s freight traffic just stopped? And the reason why has to do with the way this canal is structured. So, basically, the way this works is that as you enter one side, a series of locks, so think of them as like water elevators – they have to move ships either up or down as they make it to the other side.
They've had to implement water saving, water conserving measures. So what that's meant is that not only are they allowing less ships to go through the canal every day, from 36 on average down to about 32 on average, but each ship also has weight restrictions now. Generally speaking, they say let's just pass those costs right along to the consumer. And that is the fear here. We're not really seeing that yet, but this is the start of the peak season for shipping. And it might I mean, don't get mad at me for talking about Christmas this early. I'm not someone who likes to see Christmas trees in Target this early, but these shipping companies are thinking about Christmas.
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