economy
A severe drought at a famous waterway cut daily ship crossings nearly in half between mid-2023 and early 2024, snarling global shipping routes.
The Panama Canal relies on freshwater from Gatún Lake to operate its locks, and a severe El Niño-driven drought between 2023 and early 2024 dropped the lake to record-low levels. To conserve water, canal authorities sharply cut the number of daily ship crossings, from a normal range of around 36 to 38 down to as few as 18 by early 2024, which slowed global shipping routes that depend on the canal as a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific.
The Suez Canal, in Egypt, faced its own major disruption around the same period, but that was driven by regional security threats to shipping, not a drought, and the Strait of Malacca, a key Asian shipping route, wasn't the waterway restricted by low water levels in this case.
By mid-2024, rainfall had replenished Gatún Lake enough for the canal to return to full transit capacity, showing how a single weather pattern half a world away can ripple through supply chains for everything from electronics to insulin.
economy
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