Low rainfall caused by El Niño was blamed for a decision by the Panama government to slash the number of ships permitted to transit the Panama Canal each day by more than a tenth, with the policy to be phased in from early September. File photo by Carlos Lemos/EPA
Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The Panama government blamed low rainfall caused by El Niño for a decision to cut the number of vessels permitted to transit the 51-mile-long Panama Canal by more than 11%, despite being in the middle of the wet season.
Shipping lines were notified by the Panama Canal Authority on Thursday that as of Sept. 15, it was slashing the number of daily ship movements through the canal from 36 to 32 to ensure there was no disruption to traffic and to conserve water for human consumption.
The authority said the step was necessary "to support the long-term sustainability of transit operations," even though it had already implemented other water-saving measures and the rainy season had finally arrived.
With the sea-warning El Niño weather cycle expected to be one of the most intense on record, Britain's Met Office said Central America, along with topical South America and countries in the western Pacific, were at significant risk of low rainfall in this year's wet season.
