Worldwide maritime trade is a mess. Not only has a crisis on the Red Sea forced cargo vessels to find alternative shipping routes, but environmental threats are limiting the use of the Panama Canal.
A severe, ongoing drought is causing dangerously low water levels in the canal. Before Houthi attacks on commercial vessels on the Red Sea, some ocean carriers chose to reroute through the Suez Canal,.
Espino de Marotta, deputy administrator of the Panama Canal, describes the drop. in shipping this way: “We have been forced to decrease by 24 vessels a day from the usual 36 or 38 to guarantee 44 feet depth. We will keep this number of vessels until the end of summer.”
As a temporary solution, global shipping giant Maersk has used rail transport for some shipments.
