Drought threatens Panama Canal shipping traffic
Drought has forced Panama's authorities to reduce shipping traffic in the canal that links the Atlantic and Pacific as a water supply crisis threatens the future of this crucial waterway. Two artificial lakes that feed the canal in the province of Colon have been depleted by lack of rain. "This Lake Alhajuela has less water every day," Leidin Guevara, 43, who fishes in the lake, told AFP. The Panamanian Canal Authority (ACP) has limited the largest ships passing through the canal for the fifth time during this drought season. Some six percent of global maritime shipping passes through the canal, mostly from the United States, China and Japan. Rain water is the energy source used in the Panama Canal to move ships through locks, up to as much as 26 meters above sea level. The passage of each boat involves 200 million liters of fresh water flowing into the sea, which makes the Alhajuela and Gatun lakes vital. According to the ACP, between March 21 and April 21, the Alhajuela level fell by seven meters -- more than 10 percent. "The lack of rains impacts in various ways, firstly in the reduction in our water reserves," Erick Cordoba, the ACP water manager, told AFP. That affects the canal's business with the largest vessels, which pay the highest fees, prevented from passing through, added Cordoba. In the 2022 fiscal year more than 14,000 ships carrying 518 million tons of cargo passed through the canal, contributing $2.5 billion to the Panamanian treasury.