Panama Canal to Cut Daily Ship Transits as Drought Deepens

The Panama Canal will reduce the number of ships allowed to cross the waterway in September as drought and the El Niño weather pattern depress water levels in the lakes that supply it.

The Panama Canal Authority said daily transits will fall from 36 to 34 on September 3, 2026, and then to 32 on September 15. Rainfall in the canal area from May through August was 34 percent below the historical average, according to the authority.

The canal handles about 5 percent of global maritime trade and roughly 40 percent of United States container traffic. Lower capacity could increase waiting times for vessels without reservations and add pressure to shipping costs, although nine out of 10 ships use reserved slots.

The authority has already reduced the maximum permitted draft for the largest vessels and said additional restrictions remain possible if rainfall stays weak. The freshwater lakes feeding the canal also provide drinking water for about half of Panama’s 4.2 million residents, making conservation measures important beyond commercial shipping.

The planned cuts follow much sharper restrictions in 2023, when low lake levels reduced daily transits from 38 to 22 and created vessel backlogs. The latest measures come as other parts of Central America also face severe drought conditions linked to El Niño.