Fewer ships in Panama Canal due to El Niño drought

The Panama Canal is implementing a reduction in daily vessel traffic, lowering the capacity from 36 to 32 ships per day by mid-September. This restriction is a direct response to a severe drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon, which has prompted officials in Panama to declare a state of emergency. Similar emergency measures have been enacted in Honduras and El Salvador due to the worsening environmental conditions.

As one of the world's most critical maritime corridors, the Panama Canal facilitates roughly 5 percent of global sea trade and handles approximately 40 percent of all container traffic for the United States. Current projections suggest that the ongoing El Niño event may become the most powerful recorded in the last four decades. This situation echoes the difficulties seen in 2023, when drought conditions previously forced the canal authority to slash daily transit numbers to as low as 22 ships.