Ships evacuate Panama Canal
The global shipping industry has quickly learned to survive without the Panama Canal, with the real-time seaborne trade map experiencing its biggest and most rapid changes in the past month.
Today, the backlog of transit ships on the waterway connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans remains at just 77, 13 fewer than the average since the locks were expanded in 2016 and a drop of more than 50 in just two weeks. However, for those waiting in line, waiting times are long, especially for those waiting to sail north, with average waits peaking at more than 15 days earlier this week and currently standing at 14.5 days.
The ongoing drought has led the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to cut the maximum draft of its larger locks and reduce the number of daily transit ships by half, a situation that is likely to continue until at least the first half of 2024.
A month ago, the ACP announced its latest ship transit restrictions, and auction prices for early precious ship slots soared to more than million, so a large part of the world's merchant fleet is seeking alternative shipping routes (Cape of Good Hope, Cape Horn and Suez Canal" to transport goods to market.
For example, Braemar's analysis of ship tracking data shows that a total of 95 bulk carriers passed through the Panama Canal last month, compared with 232 in November 2022.
The latest news from container booking platform Freightos said: "It is reported that the reduction in Panama Canal transit volume is beginning to affect the costs and operations of some shipping companies, with three companies announcing that they will soon impose surcharges on containers passing through the Panama Canal, and others will Routes from Asia to the East Coast of the United States are diverted via the Suez Canal.
The weather in Panama has a particularly severe impact on the MR tanker market. Recent BRS data shows the number of MR tankers waiting to transit has more than halved, but analysts at the French brokerage warned in their latest tanker market report that canal-related volatility will prevail throughout the first half of 2024 , because the Panama Canal is heading for a dry season.
