The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) reported that it is expected that it is expected to completely normalize maritime transit through the passage by 2025 following the restriction to 27 ships a day of the 36 normals, due to the strong drought that has affected since last year the artificial lakes that feed the world’s only interoceanic waterway of fresh water.
Since July 2023, the ACP has been implementing a reduction in transits that left the figure on 22 ships last November, with plans to take it even to 18 in February 2024, forecasts that fortunately did not materialize in the face of the improvement in the availability of water. Thus, since 25 March, 27 ships can cross the track.
The Canal serves more than 180 shipping routes, connecting 170 countries to about 1,920 ports worldwide.
Thus, the administration is optimistic, although he clarified that adjustments to savings measures will depend on climate projections: if the rains do not meet expectations, the Canal could maintain or apply new restrictions.
Moderate rainfall is expected to arrive at the end of this month and increase in intensity, allowing the Canal to progressively re-enlarge normal transits to 36 transits per day, they said in a statement.
Current forecasts indicate that the constant rains will arrive at the end of April and continue during the following months. If this remains the case, the Canal plans to gradually ease traffic restrictions, allowing conditions to be fully normalized by 2025, it was indicated.
The ACP continues to monitor precipitation patterns closely and will announce any updates as soon as possible, as the transit restrictions applied since 2023 will cause a decrease of 800 million dollars in toll revenue in this fiscal year, according to the considerations of the channel administrator, Ricaurte Vásquez.
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in TeleSurTv