2023-08-23 03:54:00
The Panamanian government denied, this Tuesday (22), the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who said, on the eve, that the Panama Canal was closed due to lack of water.
“The Panama Canal keeps its operations open and free transit, to facilitate mobility and world trade,” said the Panamanian ministry of the Presidency on the social network X (formerly Twitter). “The information that circulates on social networks is not correct and distorts reality.”
The Panamanian government’s reaction comes after Gustavo Petro published on the same social network that the channel was closed “due to drought” and shared a video that shows ships apparently stopped.
The president of Mexico, Andrs Lpez Obrador, also mentioned yesterday “the special situation” of the Panamanian route, affected by the shortage of water due to drought.
The channel, which uses around 200 million liters of fresh water for each vessel that passes through it, is facing a drought, as a result of the lack of rainfall. The situation forced authorities to reduce from 40 to 32 the number of ships that can make this route daily, which causes long queues of vessels at its accesses.
According to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), normally around 90 ships are waiting to cross the channel, a figure that currently reaches around 120. the global maritime community” remains “unshakable”.
To save water, ACP reduced the ships’ draft by two meters, which resulted in a lower carrying capacity for the vessels.
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