Panama pile-up Shipping queuing for weeks as rains fail to fill canal

Symbol of the triumph of modern engineering is critically exposed to changing weather

- Jonathan Yerushalmy

From his office perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, Steven Paton looks over the entrance to the Panama Canal; the high-rises of F the country's capital resting upon the horizon behind him, and an increasingly long queue of tankers lining up in the bay.

For 33 years his job with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute monitoring the region's climate has given him a front-row seat on how familiar weather patterns have changed, upending axioms of old and calling into question the future viability of one of the most important trade routes in the world.

Over the last year, as the region has suffered through what Paton calls a "rainfall deficit", passage through the Panama Canal has slowed and the queue of tankers waiting in the bay to pass through it has grown. Now, with warnings that the situation will get much worse, experts say that the effects of a restricted Panama Canal could be felt all over the world.

Connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, the canal revolutionised global shipping when it opened in 1914, eliminating the need to travel around the dangerous southern tip of South America, shortening the trip by more than 8,000 miles.

In 2022, more than 14,000 ships traversed the canal, transporting fuel, grain, minerals and goods from the factories of east Asia to the consumers of New York and beyond. More than 40% of consumer goods traded between north-east Asia and the US east coast travel through the canal.

To make the journey, ships some up to 350 metres long - enter through a narrow waterway and rise more than 26 metres above sea level into the man-made Lake OGatun through a series of locks. On the other side of the canal, the process is reversed and the ships descend to sea level through locks before exiting the canal on the other side of the continent.