Major shipping routes are struggling with water shortages. El Niño could make it worse.
An increasing number of climate-driven extreme weather events is taking its toll on the world’s major shipping routes — and El Niño could make matters worse.
An increasing number of climate-driven extreme weather events is taking its toll on the world’s major shipping routes — and El Niño could make matters worse.
El Niño — or “the little boy” in Spanish — marks the unusual warming of the surface waters in the tropical central and eastern Pacific Ocean. It is a naturally occurring climate pattern which takes place on average every two to seven years.
The effects of El Niño tend to peak during December, but its full impact typically takes time to spread across the globe. This lag is why forecasters believe 2024 could be the first year when humanity surpasses the key climate threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius. Global average temperatures in 2022 were 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer when compared with the late 19th century.
In drought-stricken Panama, low water levels have prompted the Central American country to reduce the number of vessels that pass through the critically important Panama Canal.
The restrictions have created a logjam of ships waiting to traverse the route, which many companies favor, as it typically slashes the travel time between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
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