Before the Ever Max ship, which was carrying lava lamps, sofas, Halloween costumes and artificial Christmas trees, could make its maiden voyage through the Panama Canal this month, a historic drought forced it to lose weight, unloading hundreds From containers. Due to weather conditions, the Panama Canal Authority has had to reduce maximum vessel weights and daily crossings in an attempt to conserve water.
Shipping experts fear delays may become the new normal as rainfall deficits in the world’s fifth-wettest country underscore climate hazards affecting the shipping industry, which handles 80% of trade. world. Shipowners currently have three options: carry less cargo, switch to alternative routes that can add thousands of kilometers to the journey, or face queues that, earlier this month, stopped 160 ships and delayed some for up to 21 days.
“You have to be careful because the temperatures are way above normal,” Drew Lerner, founder and senior agricultural meteorologist at World Weather, whose clients include global commodity traders, told Reuters.
More than 14,000 ships crossed the canal in 2022. Container ships are the most common in the Panama Canal, carrying more than 40% of the consumer goods traded between Northeast Asia and the US East Coast.
Source: TSF
