The drought in Panama has reduced water in the canal. Panama has imposed draft limits on ships. Large container ships sometimes need to offload cargo on one side and have it sent by rail to the other side.
Waiting lines of ships have built on each side of the canal, waiting to traverse it. The delays can be up to 5 days at present, according to the data from eeSea, a forecasting and scheduling company based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
These delays are already causing ships to avoid the canal by using the Suez Canal or even sailing around the Cape of Good Hope to get to Asia. These are much longer routes, but do not have delays. If the issues continue, cargoes will begin to be diverted at the start. That will be bad news for East Coast US ports.
Update: the second article below indicates that ships waiting are in the hundreds, but not as high as some have reported. It’s still a big loss of business for the Panama Canal.
Destine Ozuygur, head of operations, eeSea 14/08/2023
Ship queue grows at both ends of Panama Canal and congestion builds
Sam Chambers August 23, 2023
Panama Canal Authority sets the record straight on congestion figures
Supply Chain and Logistics 