The Panama, a waterway vital for getting goods to British retailers, is being sapped dry by climate change (Picture: Bloomberg/Getty Images)
A drought some 5,300 miles away is threatening to leave Christmas trees bare and stocking empty – and no, it’s not the Grinch.
The Panama Canal, the go-to way for cargo ships to cross the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, is being sapped dry by a lack of rainfall.
Water levels in the Gatun Lake that feeds the canal are at ‘unprecedented’ lows, the Panama Canal Authority (PCA), a government agency that manages the 50-mile waterway, said.
The water is used to raise and lower ships – and this takes a lot, so much that the passage of a single ship consumes 200,000,000 litres, about 14,000 times more water than a typical Briton consumes.
‘Therefore, with less than two months left until the end of the rainy season,’ the PCA said, ‘the canal and the country face the challenge of the upcoming dry season with a minimum water reserve that must guarantee supply for more than 50% of the population,’
Panama, a tilde-shaped country on the equator in Central America, saw 41% less rainfall than usual in October, causing the lowest water levels since the mid-1960s.
This time last year, the water level was at nearly 89ft – it now stands at about 81.7ft, a figure expected to continue dropping through to February.
Canal officials have now imposted a limit on the number of boats that can trvael through the artery each day (Picture: Bloomberg/Getty Images)
The PCA is now making shipping companies eager to get their stock to shores by the festive period book reservation slots to cross the canal.
This means the number of daily sailings is down by about 55%, with only 22 slots a day this month up for grabs instead of the usual 40 journeys.
Ships carrying bulk commodities typically don’t have to book in advance, so now have to face either days or even weeks of delays or pay to jump the queue.
Some cargo companies are paying millions for a ‘special auction slot’, with those that have suffered 10-day-long delays paying upwards of $55,000, according to an advisory.
About 80 have experienced significant delays since early November.
Experts warn the drought will ripple through the global supply chain, likely making the kinds of electronics the US sends to the UK – think iPhones, TVs and even tree lights – harder to come by and more expensive.
For a boat to pass through the human-made canal, about 200 million litres of fresh water is discharged into the sea (Picture: AFP)
Economist Inga Fechner of ING Research told Bloomberg: ‘It’s getting more costly, and looking for alternative routes will increase costs and maybe also weigh on prices in the end.’
David Jinks, head of consumer research at the British delivery service ParcelHero, added: ‘How might the Panama crisis affect Christmas here in the UK? 40% of container traffic to the US uses the canal.
‘The result could be shortages of goods and increased prices as retailers fight over available stocks.’
Petroleum, electronic chips and even dried fruits face similar fates.
Though Panama is a relatively wet country, El Niño, an erratic weather phenomenon where the Pacific trade winds stop blowing, is drying it up.
The winds move from east to west and push ocean water towards South Asia and Australia – as the water evaporates, the humid air leads to the monsoon seasons the regions know all too well.
An intermittent weather pattern is making the country of Panama drier than normal, causing further headaches for officials and companies (Picture: Getty Images South America)
This flips the weather on its head. South Asia and Australia become bone dry and the Pacific Coast of South America is drenched by rain.
With climate change making dry spells even longer, Panama’s dry season has come way earlier than expected, throwing officials and shipping bosses off course.
Around 5% of global maritime goods movement is through the Panama Canal.
If a cargo company chooses not to use the waterway, their only opther option is sailing weeks around South America’s Cape Horn.
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