Water levels at the Panama Canal are close to normal, allowing more large ships to pass through and carry more cargo. Starting in August, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) will let nine neo-Panamax ships and nineteen super-Panamax ships transit daily. The canal will be handling 35 ships per day, up from 24 in May.

The drought, which began in mid-2023, was Panama’s worst drought conditions in 70 years. Due to concerns that reduced transits would last through the first quarter of 2024, carriers rerouted their Asia-North America East Coast sailings away from the canal. The disruption caused by the water shortage also significantly impacted scheduling reliability and spot rates.

With the increasing water levels in Gatun Lake, carriers have started bringing back Panama Canal services which had been suspended.

Source: Journal of Commerce