Drought is causing difficulties for transit of Neopanamax ships in the Panama Canal. Due to the shortage of precipitation, in fact, the Authority that manages the route of Central American water had to put a new limit on the draft maximum allowed for this type of ship, whose passage is was made possible by mid-2016 thanks to the inauguration of Neopanamax locks ( of 27 June 2016) and which are more than 32.61 meters wide, long more than 294.44 meters and have a draft in fresh water tropical of at least 12.12 meters.

With the adjustment of the maximum draught, the fifth became necessary because of the dry season, the Authority of the Panama Canal reduced it to 47.5 feet (14.48 meters) from at the maximum usually allowed of 50 feet (15.24 meters).

Recalling that since last January 3 the authority has implemented a number of water-saving measures, the administrator of the Canal Authority, Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, hoped that the rainy season could allow to revoke this measure as soon as possible.