PANAMA CANAL DROUGHT 1/3
FIRST SIGNS OF CLIMATE MEGA IMPACT ON GLOBAL SHIPPING
The iconic shortcut of the Panama Canal was about convenience, but became an environmental solution ahead of its time. Now, it is falling victim to climate change issues it organically pushed back against.
The manmade cut through the narrow Isthmus of Panama was an obvious choice, not just for the 8,000 miles it cut from trade routes. As a rainforest region and the fifth wettest country, Panama’s watershed system provides the massive amounts of freshwater needed to fill canal locks.
Maintaining water levels in Lake Gatun, which feeds the locks, was not a problem when the canal opened in 1914, or for much of a century that followed. As ships grew in size and number to feed global supply chain demand, increasing capacity became a priority. Vessels with towering stacks of cargo containers were making the passage with as little as five feet of clearance on either side, threatening safety and the structure itself. A critical expansion project was completed in 2017.
A trip through now requires up to 55 million gallons of fresh water, not returned to the lake, butwashed out to sea with each ship. That’s an enormous draw on natural resources, but was workable, until; an epic drought.
After two decades of dry conditions, the last rainy season set off new alarms when it failed to doit’s usual job of refilling the lake. In August, average vessel wait times increased by about half, with hundreds of ships lined up at both ends for an average of nine days.
Since 2016, the Autoridad del Canal de Panamá – the Panama Canal Authority - has issued reactive draft restrictions, reducing allowed cargo weights to ration water. It’s down to only 32 vessels every 24 hours.Blame the triple whammy of the naturally occurring El Niño climate pattern, climate warming and rainfall 30-50% below normal. The last two years are the driest in the 143 years Panama hasbeen keeping track. And Gatun Lake is evaporating faster than ever in the rising heat.
In the last 25 years, major El Niño events have risen significantly – to the point where authorities are having unprecedented discussions about turning the largest ships away.
And what if the canal were to shut down completely?
We’ve dug ourselves a deep hole in our appetite for and dependence on global trade. The supply chain issues of the COVID-19 pandemic were a wake up call for everyone, from consumers unable to buy toilet paper to manufacturers scrambling for semiconductors. That crisis rolled over into the next oneIn terms of timing, this seems like a smaller version of the climate change crisis.
Can we enact enough change quickly enough to avoid major catastrophe?
Is the solution in the trend toward smaller resource circles?
