News from the Panama Canal - persistent drought exacerbates transit traffic

The approximately 80-kilometre-long Panama Canal will remain a bottleneck for the foreseeable future

In normal times, around 14,000 ships a year pass through this important trade route for transporting goods from Asia to the east coast of the USA; over five percent of global trade and more than half a billion tonnes of freight annually. But because it rains so little, the water level is falling. At minus 41%, the recorded rainfall for October is the lowest since 1950. 2023 is also the second driest year in the same period.