00:00Global shipping is facing another bottleneck, this time at the Panama Canal.
00:04The vital trade route is set to cut the number of ships allowed through each day
00:08as drought linked to El Nino reduces the water available to operate the canal.
00:14From October, daily transits will fall to an average of 29.5 ships, down from 36 in August.
00:20That's the second cut in just two months.
00:23The 82-kilometer canal handles about 5% of global maritime trade
00:28and is a key route for ships travelling between Asia and the US.
00:32The timing could hardly be worse for global shipping.
00:35The war in Iran and disruption to the Strait of Hormuz have already forced shippers
00:40to deal with longer routes and higher costs.
00:43The Panama Canal depends on fresh water from the Gaten Lake system to move ships through its locks.
00:49This year's El Nino is expected to be the strongest in decades.
00:53The last major drought in 2023 saw daily transits cut to just 22,
00:58creating a backlog of ships and pushing up shipping costs.
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