If the persistence of the dry period, with the consequent decrease in the water level in the Panama Canal and in the reservoirs that feed it, has caused a reduction in ship transits in the Central American waterway of -4.1% in second quarter of 2023 and -4.4% in the third, last quarter of 2023 quarter of the year the decrease in maritime traffic in the canal has increased considerably. In the fourth quarter of 2023, In fact, 2,774 ships transited, with a significant decrease in -23.7% on the corresponding period of 2022. It has decreased consequently, the volume of goods on board the ships transited, which in the period October-December last year amounted to almost 52.0 million tonnes (-30.2%).

The significant drop in transits that occurred in the last quarter of 2023 was generated, mainly, in the months of November and December: after a decline of -8.4% in October 2023 compared to in the same month of the previous year, in the following two months decreases of -29.4% and -32.4% respectively were recorded.

In the full year 2023, 13,216 ships crossed the Panama Canal, with a reduction of -7.4% compared to the previous year, ships with 262.7 million tonnes of cargo (-10.1%).

Illustrating what the consequences have been and are currently drought crisis, the Panama Canal Authority has highlighted that in 2023 the combined effect of temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and the El Niño climate phenomenon, which delayed the start of the rainy season, significant challenges for the Panamanian waterway, through which annually pass through world trade for a value of estimated at $444 billion. The authority pointed out that Last October, the channel experienced the most drought on record, with rainfall levels that has reached its lowest point since 1950, the rainfall which was -41% lower than in the one expected.

The Canal Authority has confirmed that by entering the dry season, which in Panama runs from the end of the year to the middle of the year Spring, the canal has to deal with scarcity in Gatun and Alajuela Lakes, reservoirs that are essential for the smooth operation of the channel. As a result of the Drought The Authority has taken measures never taken before and, since last October, ships subject to restrictions that through the canal were for the first time reduced from the previous usual average of 36 per day, under to 22 for the entire month of December, in anticipation of a worst-case scenario in the following months. The Authority has made I note that, since the rainfall in November was lower but not as low as in October, starting from On 16 January of this year, the daily transits were increased to 24.

Remembering that, as is customary in every season restrictions on the draught of ships have been introduced, with those passing through the Neopanamax locks that can fishing up to 44 feet, while ships passing through locks Panamax have no draught limitations, the authority explained whereas, although the restrictions on transit and draught have had a impact on all types of ships, bulk carrier transits, which transport different types of raw materials such as minerals, metals, grain, coal and fertilizers, are among the most Affected. Unlike cruise ship transits and container ships, which typically secure transit slots with months in advance - specified the Canal Authority - the Bulk carriers often only secure slots shortly before of arrival, given that the nature of their activity is different from that of liners. This practice, combined with restrictions on the transit of the canal in conjunction with the wheat crop in the U.S. and with the increase in demand for transport in the autumn - the Authority noted - has pushed the dry bulk segment to seek alternative routes through the Suez Canal and the Cape of Good Hope and, as a result, the Bulk carrier transits decreased by -9.85% between October 2022 and September 2023 compared to the same period of the year previous.