In July 2023, the Canal reduced the El Niño phenomenon to 32 daily transits and then implemented new restrictions over the next few months to 22.
The Panama Canal began this Sunday to allow the passage of 36 ships a day, the ideal number of transits per day that returns the transoceanic route to a relative “normality” in a year in which crossings have been increasing after cutting them due to the severe drought.
Ayax Murillo, Hydrology Manager of the Panama Canal, said: “As far as transit is concerned, again from this 1 September (…) we will have 36 transits a day as set before the crisis in July 2023, (when) we had approximately 36 to 38 transits a day. That’s the normal average.”
On July 30, 2023, the Panama Canal reduced ship transits to 32 because of the El Niño phenomenon, which lengthened the dry season by abruptly reducing the rains. The track applied new restrictions over the next few months to 22 ships a day last November.
Initially, it was said that transit restrictions would cause an $800 million impact on toll revenue on the track coffers, a drop that would be partially offset by the collection of other services.
However, despite this serious situation resulting from the climate crisis, it never reached the worst scenario planned, which was 18 last February, since with the improvement of the levels of the lakes that serve the track, the Canal was progressively restoring the daily crossings.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Panamerican