Overview
- The Panama Canal Authority has imposed stepped operational limits, reducing maximum daily transits and lowering the permitted vessel draft to save freshwater used to operate the locks.
- Officials have cut allowed daily passages from previous levels down through interim stages and have reduced the draft limit from 15.24 meters to 14.63 meters so ships carry less cargo and use less water per transit.
- The cuts respond to a deep El Niño-driven drought that has lowered Gatún and Alhajuela reservoir levels, which supply the lock lifts and municipal water needs for Panama.
- Administrator Ilya Espino de Marotta said the authority does not rule out further temporary reductions if the drought continues, and she identified the Río Indio reservoir as the top long-term fix.
- The Río Indio project will not be available in the near term because procurement starts in 2027 and construction is expected to finish around 2031, leaving the canal exposed to shorter drought-driven disruptions that could raise shipping costs and reduce canal revenue.