The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) will extend restrictions on ships’ maximum depth, it said on Tuesday last week, and it has limited average crossings at one of the world’s busiest trade passages to just 32 ships a day as a prolonged drought continues. The changes will predictably increase the cost of shipping and the local maritime traffic jam.
The authority will maintain a depth limit of 13.41m, for neo-Panamax container ships.
In June, the ACP put off further restrictions that would have brought depth limits up half a foot, meaning ships would have needed to lighten their loads to float higher in the water.
Photo: EPA-EFE 照片：歐新社
During Panama’s rainy season, an average of 35-36 ships typically cross the canal each day, the authority has said. Each crossing uses some 51 million gallons of water — roughly 82 Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth — to move each ship. That water comes from artificial lakes Gatun and Alajuela, which are fed by the Chagres River. The lakes also supply water to Panama City, its metropolitan area and hinterland, where nearly half the country’s population of 4.2 million live.
The depth limit will remain at the current level as long as weather conditions do not drastically change, the ACP said in a statement.
“As part of a worldwide phenomenon, in the last six months, the Canal has experienced an extended dry season with high levels of evaporation, with a high probability of an El Nino condition before the end of this calendar year,” the canal authority said.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons 照片：維基共享資源
Panama typically sees heavy rains in July, and the ACP called the current lack of precipitation “historically unprecedented.”
Since the beginning of the year, the canal has rolled out water-efficiency measures while bracing itself for the long-term effects of climate change, the authority said.
Constructed by the US and inaugurated in 1914, the Panama Canal is a vital connection point for 180 maritime routes that link 1,920 ports in 170 countries. About 3.5 percent of the world’s maritime trade each year passes through the 80km inter-oceanic waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. During the fiscal year of 2022, the canal provided a historic revenue amount of US$2.494 billion to the Panamanian government.
Photo: Reuters 照片：路透
(Reuters, with staff writer)
巴拿馬運河管理局（ACP）上週二表示，將加強對船舶最大吃水深度的限制，且由於長期乾旱仍在持續，平均通過船隻數限制為每天僅32艘。巴拿馬運河為世界上最繁忙的貿易通道之一。可以預見的是，這將增加航運成本以及當地海上交通擁塞。
ACP將維持新巴拿馬型貨櫃船13.41公尺的深度限制。
Photo: EPA-EFE 照片：歐新社
六月，當局暫緩實施將最大深度提高半英尺的進一步限制，此限制意味船舶需要減輕負載才能浮得更高。
當局表示，在巴拿馬雨季期間，每天平均有35至36艘船穿過運河。每次通過大約使用5,100萬加侖的水——約相當於82個奧運標準的游泳池水量。這些水來自加通湖及阿拉胡埃拉湖這兩個人工湖，其水源為查格雷斯河。此二湖還向巴拿馬城及其都會區與腹地供水，供420萬人使用，巴拿馬全國近一半的人口居住於此。
ACP透過聲明表示，只要天氣條件沒有發生劇烈變化，船隻深度限制將維持目前水平。
Photo: AFP 照片：法新社
運河管理局表示：「過去六個月，運河經歷了長時間的旱季，蒸發量很高，今年底之前很有可能會發生聖嬰現象。這些都是遍及全球的現象」。
巴拿馬通常七月會下大雨，運河當局稱目前的降雨不足是「史上前所未有的」。
管理局說，自今年初以來，運河已祭出節水措施，同時做好準備以因應氣候變化的長期影響。
巴拿馬運河是由美國所建造，1914年啟用，是180條海上航線的重要銜接點，連結170個國家的1,920個港口。每年約3.5%的全球海上貿易會行經這連通大西洋及太平洋的80公里長跨洋水道。2022會計年度，該運河為巴拿馬政府帶來了創歷史的24.94億美元收入。
（台北時報林俐凱編譯）
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