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The lack of water, a problem that could be exacerbated due to climate change, is the biggest challenge facing the Panama Canal to continue operating normally, according to the Government of the country on Tuesday, just 20 years after States United would transfer its administration to the Central American country.

"In these 20 years, we have had a Channel with a high standard of efficiency," said Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo during the commemoration of the transfer of the road to Panamanian hands on December 31, 1999.

However, water supply is "a huge challenge," Cortizo said. " Not only water for human consumption , but to produce food and water for the Canal. There we have another major challenge," he added.

The road faces the ravages of climate change. According to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), in 2019 the rains have been 27% below average, while rising temperatures have led to greater water vaporization in the reservoirs that supply the seaway.

The situation has caused that of the 5,250 million cubic meters of fresh water that the Canal needs to operate in a sustained way, only about 3,000 million are available , which makes fear that the shipping companies opt for other routes, such as the Suez Canal , to avoid uncertainty.

"So far this century we have seen new opportunities and threats, most of them climate change and its effects, which clearly affect us," said Canal Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez.

The ACP expects to be able to implement measures such as finding new sources of water, underground or treatment plants, river transfers, new reservoirs or desalination of seawater soon.

"I maintain the great concern for water, because climate change is already affecting us. For me this is the main threat," the former Channel Administrator Jorge Quijano lamented to the AFP.

The Panamanian highway, of 80 kilometers, joins the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Its main users are the United States, China and Japan and its main routes go from Asia to the east coast of the USA. Currently, 3.5% of global trade passes through its waters.

Since its transfer, the Canal has delivered to the Panamanian Treasury 16,818 million dollars, contributes 6% of the Gross Domestic Product and 20% of the Panamanian Government's income .

The Canal, opened in 1914, also faces a global decline in trade and the change of sea routes, which have moved to Asia to the detriment of the United States and Latin America.

Experts call for greater integration of the Panamanian logistics sector and for a diversification of activities and markets. Although its main business is still the container ship segment, gas transportation is the business that has grown the most .

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