Due to drought, the use of the Panama Canal is limited / Article

The 80-kilometer-long Panama Canal connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, but much of it is above sea level, powered by artificially flooded Lake Gatun. For example, in some locks, about 200 million liters of fresh water have to be used to raise one ship to the next level. Normally, there is enough water to service 40 ships a day, but from the beginning of the year, their number had to be reduced by about half.

The largest ships pay almost a million euros to use the canal, so the amount of lost revenue is huge.

Currently, hydrologists are looking for other ways to replenish the lake’s water supply, but the solution is not quick and easy.

There are also problems for the operators of the world’s second most important canal, the Suez Canal, but navigation in the Red Sea is hindered by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are firing on individual cargo ships in solidarity with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. Therefore, here too, many shipping lines have to choose the longer route around Africa.

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