Historic drought, hot seas slow Panama Canal shipping
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[August 21, 2023] By
Lisa Baertlein and Marianna Parraga
LOS ANGELES/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Before the Ever Max ship carrying lava
lamps, sofas, Halloween costumes and artificial Christmas trees could
make its inaugural Panama Canal voyage this month, a historic drought
forced it to drop weight by offloading hundreds of containers.
Weather-related disruptions denied the vessel, owned by Taiwanese
shipping company Evergreen Marine, a chance on Aug. 1 to set a record
for carrying the most containers through the vital maritime shortcut
that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
The Panama Canal Authority has reduced maximum ship weights and daily
ship crossings in a bid to conserve water. Maritime transportation
experts fear such events could become the new normal as rainfall
deficits in the world's fifth-wettest country spotlight climate risks
affecting the ocean shipping industry that moves 80% of global trade.
Ship owners have the options of carrying less cargo, shifting to
alternate routes that can add thousands of miles to the trip or
grappling with queues that earlier this month backed up 160 vessels and
delayed some ships by as much as 21 days.
The restrictions already are sending China-U.S. spot shipping prices up
as much as 36% amid soaring sea temperatures that climate scientists
warn could supercharge extreme weather.
"You have to wave a caution flag because the temperatures are so far
above normal," said Drew Lerner, founder and senior agriculture
meteorologist at World Weather, whose customers include global commodity
traders.
Canal operators are on a tightrope as they work to manage maritime trade
disruption and prepare for what is shaping up to be an even drier period
next year, said Peter Sand, chief analyst at air and ocean freight rate
benchmarking platform Xeneta.
More than 14,000 ships crossed the canal in 2022. Container ships are
the most common users of the Panama Canal and transport more than 40% of
consumer goods traded between Northeast Asia and the U.S. East Coast.
U.S-bound vessels caught in the bottlenecks have carried Barbie dolls,
auto parts, BYD solar panels, water treatment equipment, diabetes
testing kits and other goods, according to data from Steve Ferreira, CEO
of a company that audits ocean shipping bills.
Restrictions at the canal started earlier this year, affecting about 170
countries and virtually every type of good - including soybeans and
liquefied natural gas from the United States, copper and fresh cherries
from Chile, and beef from Brazil.
Bulk carriers that transport commodities from corn to iron ore, as well
as tankers that move oil, fuel, gas and chemicals also are affected.
Some energy companies are rerouting vessels laden with coal and
liquefied natural gas to the Suez Canal.
WATER WATCH A naturally occurring El Nino climate pattern associated
with warmer-than-usual water in the central and eastern tropical Pacific
Ocean is contributing to Panama's drought.
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A sign reads 'Dry Chamber' during the
periodical maintenance of the West Lane of Pedro Miguel locks at the
Panama Canal, in Panama City, Panama May 12, 2023. REUTERS/Aris
Martinez/File photo
The area around the canal is experiencing one of the two driest
years in the country's 143 years of keeping records, data from the
canal authority and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI)
showed. Rainfall measurements around the area are 30-50% below
normal.
Water levels in Gatun Lake, the rainfall-fed principal reservoir
that floats ships through the Panama Canal's lock system, have
remained below normal despite accumulation from the current rainy
season.
A potential early start to Panama's dry season and
hotter-than-average temperatures typical of major El Nino events in
the country could increase evaporation from Gatun Lake and result in
near-record low water levels by March or April 2024, said STRI's
Steven Paton.
"It's the perfect storm of events," said Paton, who has monitored
rain patterns in the Central American country for more than three
decades.
The frequency of major El Nino drying patterns has risen
significantly during the last 25 years of the canal's 109-year
history. If that continues, "it will be increasingly difficult for
(the Panama Canal) to guarantee that the largest ships are going to
be able to get through," Paton said.
BRACING FOR MORE CUTS
Canal operators have lowered ship weight limits to accommodate lower
water depth - posing a problem for large vessels like the Ever Max.
The ship was built to carry more than 8,650 40-foot (12-metre) cargo
boxes. It arrived at the Pacific side of the canal over the limit
even though it was only carrying the equivalent of 7,373 containers.
The vessel unloaded about 700 containers onto trains, retrieved them
on the Atlantic side and continued on to the U.S. East Coast,
according to the Canal Authority and Eikon vessel tracking. Ship
owner Evergreen Marine declined comment. Canal operators also cut
the number of daily ship crossings to 32 from about 36 during normal
operations since each passage requires about 50 million gallons of
water, only a portion of which is recycled.
Some shipping executives are bracing for more reductions later this
year, noting that in 2020 a less severe drought prompted canal
operators to reduce crossings to 27 per day.
"Anyone shipping product around the world should be paying attention
to possible disruptions due to climate change," said Brian Bourke,
global chief commercial officer at SEKO Logistics. "The Panama Canal
is just the latest example."
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles, Marianna Parraga in
Houston, Elida Moreno in Panama City and Louise Breusch Rasmussen in
Copenhagen, editing by Deepa Babington)
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