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The entrance of the Panama Canal on the Atlantic side on May 19, 2023

Photo: ESA / Sentinel Hub

It is arguably one of the most important abbreviations in the world. When captains steer their ships through the 80-kilometer-long Panama Canal between the Atlantic and the Pacific, they save themselves time-consuming, expensive detours. Those who use the canal, for example, shorten a ship passage between New York and San Francisco from around 25,000 to around 10,000 kilometers – and are thus up to three weeks faster than if they were to sail around Cape Horn at the southern tip of America.

The false-color image of the European satellite mission "Sentinel 2" shows the canal entrance on the Atlantic side up to the Miraflores locks. Panama City, located to the east, is also clearly visible.

The canal is considered a technical masterpiece and is much more than a simple fairway between two oceans. The ships are lifted up to 25 meters above sea level via several locks in partly mountainous areas.

Almost 300 million tons of cargo per year

About five percent of the world's sea freight traffic passes through the building, which opened in 1914. In concrete terms, this means that almost 14 million tonnes of goods were transported via the waterway in 239,300 ship passages last year.

In the course of time, the canal and its locks have been repeatedly adapted to the needs of shipping. Since the last expansion, which was completed in 2016, almost 400 meters long and 50 meters wide container giants can travel on the line.

But there is currently a massive problem: there is a lack of water. Every time a ship passes through, around 200 million litres flow into the oceans, and supplies are needed. But in several lakes, from which the water necessary for the passage of ships comes, the levels have recently dropped massively. First and foremost Lake Gatún and Lake Alajuela. For example, the filling level in the Alajuela decreased by seven meters within a month alone, which is ten percent.

The cause is a lack of rain. Between February and April, the amount of precipitation was 50 percent below average, according to media reports. For this reason, the responsible Panama Canal authority has recently once again limited the maximum load of passing ships. It initially lowered the limit for the draught from 13.72 meters to 13.56 meters. By the end of May, it should be only 13.41 meters.

Further problems due to "El Niño" are to be expected

If the ships are allowed to lie less deep in the water, they can each transport significantly fewer containers – this is already causing freight rates to rise, at least for some shipping companies. And further restrictions are possible: The Panama Canal Authority said it was monitoring the situation and, if necessary, would communicate additional measures in a timely manner.

It is likely that they will have to be imposed. A strong "El Niño" weather event is expected this year. This will probably not only lead to higher global average temperatures, but also to falling precipitation, for example in Panama, where the rainy season was supposed to begin at the end of May.

In the long term, the problem at the canal could be solved by developing new water resources, for example with the help of a dam. But in case of doubt, this would mean that less water would be available for the local population, which could lead to other conflicts. In the canal region, more than half of the drinking water for Panama's 4.7 million inhabitants is extracted.

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