Panama Canal reducing vessel traffic due to drought.

[alfamike]

PANAMA CITY, Aug 16 (Reuters) – The Panama Canal Authority on Wednesday notified shippers it is extending through September 2 restrictions for vessels to transit through the waterway and keeping the number of vessels authorized to pass per day to a maximum of 32.

The Canal restrictions, implemented in recent months as the rainy season in Panama has come late this year, could add more pressure on consumer goods prices, according to maritime firms and experts, as delays and extra fees add to shipping costs.

The Panama Canal is key for moving consumer goods from Asia to the United States, especially ahead of peak selling seasons like Christmas. It also allows faster transportation of U.S. commodities to Asia and South America’s Pacific Coast.

On Wednesday, there were a total of 131 vessels with and without reservations lining up to transit the drought-hit waterway, fewer than the 161 ships reported a week ago, according to official statistics.

The bottleneck easing follows more slots opened last week by the Canal Authority for non booked vessels.

“In light of the prolonged effects of the dry season … the Panama Canal is extending booking condition 3 in order to continue to alleviate congestion for ships already in queue to transit or in route, who were unable to secure reservations beforehand,” the Canal’s authority told Reuters by email.

Under the current measures, vessels cannot exceed a maximum draft of 44 feet (13.41 meters). The Canal is allowing only 14 daily reservations to pass through the old locks, used by smaller ships, and 10 daily transits for the new bigger locks.

Vessels that arrive without reservation only have access to the remainder eight passage slots per day.

The Canal also is maintaining a suspension of extraordinary auctions for transit slots in both locks through Sep. 2.

In normal circumstances, about 36 vessels in total are authorized to pass the Canal per day this time of the year, but prolonged drought has forced restrictions to use the navigation channel and the locks.

“Demand remains high, which proves that the Panama Canal is still competitive in most segments, even with measures taken to save water,” the authority added.

The Panama Canal has a 40%-market share of containers moving from Northeast Asia to the U.S. East Coast. Container ships transport most of the cargo tonnage that passes through the waterway, followed by bulk carriers and tankers carrying oil, gas and chemicals.

 

[mvweebles]

David McCullough's epic "Path Between the Seas" describes construction of the Panama Canal. Apparently four other routes were considered. One of the non-selected options was a railroad across the 300km Tehuantepec Isthmus. The railroad was indeed buit over 100 years ago, but the full breadth and scale of intermodal freight was never realized, though had been on the drawing board several times......including as reently as 2018.

I would think the reduction in capacity for the Panama Canal would give strong encouragement to dedicated freight trains across the Isthmus.......

Peter

 

[Crusty Chief]

32 a day? That’s an amazing reduction. When we transited a few years back there was literally a hundred or more boats (maybe more) a day going in both directions. Our AIS was lit up like a Christmas tree. This has got to impact shipping significantly!

 

[DDW]

The canal is operated with rain water. An interesting brain twister posed many years ago in Latitude 38 was: does it take less rain water for yachts (which displace relatively little water) compared to freighters (which displace a lot more)? There was months of controversy on that topic.

 

[Nick F]

The canal is operated with rain water. An interesting brain twister posed many years ago in Latitude 38 was: does it take less rain water for yachts (which displace relatively little water) compared to freighters (which displace a lot more)? There was months of controversy on that topic.

Same amount (per lock passage, not per vessel if multiple vessel in the lock)

 

[Fletcher500]

https://gcaptain.com/lpg-tanker-pay...170536183&mc_cid=ccba124568&mc_eid=3225799e3f

 

[Steve1.0]

The canal is operated with rain water. An interesting brain twister posed many years ago in Latitude 38 was: does it take less rain water for yachts (which displace relatively little water) compared to freighters (which displace a lot more)? There was months of controversy on that topic.

The volume of the chamber is fixed. If a ship fills more of that available volume, less room for water

 

[Nick F]

The volume of the chamber is fixed. If a ship fills more of that available volume, less room for water

What you state here is true when referring to the amount of water in the lock at the moment of closing the gates. However, it does not apply to the volume of water that must be added to raise the water level in the lock for an upgoing ship.

The water added to the lock, when raising a ship, fills a rectangular shaped volume which is below the bottom of the ship(s) in the lock chamber. As such, this volume is independent of the size of ship(s) in the lock.

Here is another water displacement conundrum:
You are in a canoe on a lake with some heavy rocks in the canoe. You throw the rocks overboard and they sink. Does the level of water in the lake rise or fall or stay the same?

Enjoy!

 

[KnotYet]

What you state here is true when referring to the amount of water in the lock at the moment of closing the gates. However, it does not apply to the volume of water that must be added to raise the water level in the lock for an upgoing ship.

The water added to the lock, when raising a ship, fills a rectangular shaped volume which is below the bottom of the ship(s) in the lock chamber. As such, this volume is independent of the size of ship(s) in the lock.

Here is another water displacement conundrum:
You are in a canoe on a lake with some heavy rocks in the canoe. You throw the rocks overboard and they sink. Does the level of water in the lake rise or fall or stay the same?

Enjoy!

Just use the bathtub analogy:

Uplocking, the water added to the lock needs to match the water level on the exit side.
In a bathtub, visualize this as the overflow outlet water level, say about 50 gals.
You climb in and displace your body's volume, say about 15 gallons, and float.
If you had filled the tub to the overflow depth, you just lost 15 gal down the drain.
If you had climbed in while adding the water you would have saved 15 gals.

The lock system uses the water from the higher exit side to fill the lower side.
If the lower side is filled with an enormous ship, less water is required to fill it.
Any questions?

 

[KnotYet]

Question: what does this mean as regards the consumption of water for a lock manoeuver?

That the volume of water added to reach the exit side level is reduced by the sum
of displacements of every vessel in the lock.
Of course, the water sent back down the lock is the same every time!

 

[Nick F]

This is intriguing . . .

I think we are both right.

Please look at the diagrams I attach. I consider the upper side lock gate as the control boundary for counting water entering, or departing, the upper water (the "lake").

My conclusion is that a lock containing a bigger ship consumes more lake water when up-locking, but GIVES BACK that same extra volume (the ship's displacement) on down-locking.

This would mean that the effect of ship size on lake water consumption for a complete ocean-to-ocean transit is neutral.

 

[KnotYet]

This is intriguing . . .

I think we are both right.

Please look at the diagrams I attach. I consider the upper side lock gate as the control boundary for counting water entering, or departing, the upper water (the "lake").

My conclusion is that a lock containing a bigger ship consumes more lake water when up-locking, but GIVES BACK that same extra volume (the ship's displacement) on down-locking.

This would mean that the effect of ship size on lake water consumption for a complete ocean-to-ocean transit is neutral.

Yes, once the vessel(s) exit(s) the lock it always contains the same volume of water.

 

[PierreR]

What you state here is true when referring to the amount of water in the lock at the moment of closing the gates. However, it does not apply to the volume of water that must be added to raise the water level in the lock for an upgoing ship.

The water added to the lock, when raising a ship, fills a rectangular shaped volume which is below the bottom of the ship(s) in the lock chamber. As such, this volume is independent of the size of ship(s) in the lock.

Here is another water displacement conundrum:
You are in a canoe on a lake with some heavy rocks in the canoe. You throw the rocks overboard and they sink. Does the level of water in the lake rise or fall or stay the same?

Enjoy!

I think you were right here on your first try.