2023-08-05 05:20:34
central America
The Panama Canal fears it will run out of water for its locks
Declining rainfall threatens this important sea route for global freight transport because it depends on fresh water to function.
PostedAugust 5, 2023, 7:20 AM
In order to save water, 32 ships will now pass per day, compared to the usual 40.
REUTERS
“If we don’t adapt, we will die”
“We need to find solutions so that we can continue to be a relevant route for international trade. If we don’t adapt, we’re going to die,” he told a press conference, fearing that shipowners “may opt for other routes” via the Strait of Magellan, Patagonia, or possibly the Arctic during the summer months. “That risk exists,” Vasquez warns, “but if we find a solution relatively quickly, not necessarily immediate works but the market knows there is a solution, that should alleviate long-term concerns,” said Mr. Vasquez. he added.
According to the authorities, the canal already invests more than 400 million dollars a year in various maintenance projects, in particular to limit the leakage of fresh water. But despite its rarity, the replacement by sea water in the locks is excluded because it would involve pharaonic excavation work. “Suez was much flatter and it was sand. In our case, it is rock and there is a mountain range which is not very high, but there is one, and that is the challenge”, explained the administrator of the canal.
Limited draft
For now, the draft of boats has been limited to 43 feet (13.11 meters), two less than what was previously authorized on this waterway inaugurated by the United States in 1914. , and property of Panama since December 31, 1999. From an average of 40 ships passing through the canal each day in 2022, 32 will now pass in order to save water in the locks which lift ships 26 meters above the sea level to cross the isthmus, before bringing them back down on the other side by dumping 200 million liters into the ocean.
This reduction in draft, which will lead to a drop in revenue of $200 million in 2024, requires certain merchant ships to unload hundreds of containers in the port of Balboa, on the Pacific side, and reload them in Colon, on the Caribbean side. , following transport by rail. Mr Vasquez pointed out that the Singapore-flagged Ever Max was forced to unload containers this week, but that did not prevent it from setting the record for the vessel that carried the most cargo in the canal, i.e. 17,000 containers for a toll cost of 1.5 million dollars.
In fiscal year 2022, more than 14,000 ships carrying 518 million tons of cargo used the waterway, earning the Panamanian treasury some $2.5 billion. Since 1914, more than one million ships have passed through the Panama Canal, mainly from the United States, China and Japan.
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