How droughts are severely impacting traffic at the Panama Canal

About 14,000 vessels transit the Panama Canal annually including about 40% of all U.S. container traffic. But recent droughts have plagued the artery. A drought in 2023 and 2024 forced the canal’s operator, the Panama Canal Authority, to enact weight restrictions and limit vessel transits to 18 ships per day. The drought was Panama’s worst in over 70 years. But how does a 50-mile long waterway connected by two oceans run low on water?