Ships will be forced to reduce their cargo because the maximum allowable draft will be set at 11.89 meters (39 feet), down from the current level of 12.04 meters (39.5 feet). A similar measure was adopted in 1998, also because of a severe drought affecting the Central American country, the ACP said. BBC photo
The Panama Canal said it will lower the maximum allowable draft of ships passing through the inter-oceanic waterway starting Sept. 8 due to an El Niño-triggered drought.
The measure will affect 18.5 percent of the ships that travel through the canal, according to the Panama Canal Authority, or ACP, which said it will not significantly affect “the efficiency and capacity” of the waterway’s operations.
Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano said two weeks ago that the worst drought in more than a century struck the country between June and the first half of July, lowering water levels at the Alajuela, Miraflores and Gatun lakes that supply water for the canal’s locks.