International shipping is the transport of cargo over oceans by merchant ships from one country to another. It currently makes up approximately 90 per cent of global freight and uses approximately 102,000 merchant ships.

Canals are artificial waterways that connect water bodies to allow the conveying of merchant ships inland. They are made up of a series of dams and locks that form reservoirs of low speed flowing water.

When the Suez Canal was became operational world trade flourished, as the time and costs involved in freighting cargo between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans was significantly reduced. A similar boom in trade occurred for American trade when the Panama Canal was completed.

The Panama Canal conveys 6 percent of international shipping traffic, with 40 ships passing through it daily. With global freight continuing to grow, proposals are being explored to build larger canals that would add more connections between these oceans or make new connections with other oceans.

These are the Nicaragua, Kra Isthmus and Caspian Canals, which will have a major effect on global trade. Three proposed mega canals for international shipping.

however, there were concerns regarding what environmental impact the canal would have on Lake Nicaragua – a major fresh water reservoir for Central America. The canal’s viability was also doubted by many international shipping experts and engineers.

In 2013, the Nicaraguan government granted a 50-year concession to finance and manage the Nicaragua Canal project. It would carve through Central America a channel 273km long, up to 520m wide and up to 28m deep, connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

The project was given to the Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company (HKND) which was headed by Wang Jing. The project was delayed when HKND suffered major financial losses from the Chinese stock market crash of 2015.

HKND claimed the project would be financed by debts and equity sales, as well as a possible public offering. however, the group was dissolved in 2017 and the Nicaraguan government stated that it would persist with the project in 2018.

The Kra Isthmus Canal was proposed in 2015, to connect the Gulf of Thailand with the Andaman Sea. The canal would bypass the Straits of Malacca by carving a 50km channel through a finger of land in the south of Thailand called the Kra Isthmus.

International shipping transiting from China and Japan to India, the Middle East, Africa and Europe would benefit immensely from this canal, shortening the route by 1,200km. One-third of Chinese international shipping currently passes through the Straits of Malacca.

The 13,330km route for oil tankers transiting from the Saudi Arabia to Japan would be shortened by 9 per cent. Environmental impact challenges and the high cost of US$28 billion have delayed the project.

International shipping mega canal – Kra Isthmus Canal in Thailand. The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water that has no outflows.

Caspian Canal is an ambitious proposed project that would connect the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. The canal would be over 1,400km in length and require more than 50 giant locks to traverse a mountain range up to 1,600m high.

The Caspian Canal would provide the shortest access route to the Indian Ocean and East Asia from the: It is likely that the Iranian government would sideline any major environmental impact concerns that would arise from the project.

Iran is waiting on Russia to commit to the project in order to proceed. International shipping mega canal – Caspian Canal.

They are traffic choke points vulnerable to disruption by any number of causes including accidents, natural disasters and occupation. This is assuming the environmental impact is properly managed.

They allow countries with varying levels of resources and manufacturing to trade more efficiently. Mega canals amplify this effect and greatly expand business opportunities that could not have been previously feasible.

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Also known as just the White Sea Canal, this canal was constructed in 1933, by a forced labor of 126,000 people. The official records show that between 12,000 and 25,000 laborers died during the construction.

Since the canal isn’t suitable for merchant ships vessels with larger dimensions, it witnesses only light traffic. One of the most important canals in western Europe, The Danube–Black Sea Canal runs from Cernavoda, on the Danube river, to Constanta, and Navodari, on the Black Sea.

The main branch of the canal has a length of 64.4 kilometers and was completed in 1984. The north branch, also known as the Poarta Alba – Midia Navodari Canal, on the other hand, is 31.2 kilometers in length and was completed three years after the main branch.The Danube-Black Sea has also historical importance as nearly 20,000 political prisoners worked on its excavation.

It serves as a passage for ocean-going vessels between Houston-area terminals and the Gulf of Mexico. The 80-kilometer long canal is essential especially for the US as it makes Texas one of the countries’ busiest seaports.

It is a widened and deepened natural watercourse created by dredging Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay. It has been used since at least 1836.

In 2007, the University of Texas released a study suggesting that children living within 2 miles (3.2 km) of the canal were 56% more likely to become sick with leukemia than the national average. The 98 km-long Kiel Canal, formerly know as Kaiser-Wilhelm Canal, connects the Baltic Sea with the North Sea since its opening in 1895.

Starting from Brunsbüttel and ending in Kiel, it saves vessels from using a 460 kilometers longer and more unstable route passing from the Jutland peninsula of Denmark. To be able to use this canal, the length of the ship must be 235.50 meters (772.6 ft) or less.

Located in Germany, the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal connects the Main and the Danube rivers, therefore connecting the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea. Even though there were many other plans of canals (some being successful) in the location, the canal that is present today was completed in 1992.

The canal has 16 locks. The maximum boat length is 190 meters.

The Volga-Don Canal connects the Russian rivers, Volga and Don, at their closest points. Together with these two famous rivers, the canal provides the most direct navigable connection between the Caspian Sea and the world’s oceans via the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

The length of the canal is 101 kilometers. It features nine one-chamber canal locks on the Volga slope to raise ships and four locks on the Don slope to lower them.

Even though its length of 6.4 kilometers isn’t that impressive, it’s famous for being the deepest canal in the World, with a depth of 8 meters. Another importance of the canal is that it helps vessels sailing around the Pelopennese’s dangerous southern capes.

The construction began in 1881 and the canal used for the first time in 1893. Although this ancient canal is not that capable to accommodate modern ships, it still serves around 15,000 ships from more than 50 countries.

Opened in 1914, the canal connects the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean through a narrow strip that separates the Caribbean Sea from the Pacific. The 82-kilometer long canal shortens the journey of the vessels by 15,000 kilometers.

Used by 29 major liner services, the Panama Canal salutes almost 15,000 vessels every year. The Suez Canal is not only as famous as the Panama Canal, but it’s also more essential.

Therefore it provides the shortest maritime route between Europe, the Indian Ocean, and the Western Pacific Ocean.

It’s open at all times and heavily used by the shipping vessels from all countries. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is so long that it is mostly referred to as the Grand Canal only.

Its length of 1,776 kilometers also makes it the longest canal of all This Chinese canal connects the country’s Hai River, Yellow River, Huai River, Yangzi River, and Qiantang River. In short, it connects the north and the south of China.

This famous canal is not only essential for China’s economy, but it’s also registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal allows ships travelling between the east and the west to avoid the long journey around the Cape of Good Hope, cutting routes by an average of 6,000 miles. Although the latest generation of huge supertankers cannot traverse the canal fully-laden, it remains one of the world’s most important waterways.

The SuMed pipeline runs close to the canal, connecting the Ain Sukhna terminal on the Gulf of Suez to Sidi Kerir on the coast of the Mediterranean, and is just as important as the canal. SuMed transports oil, partly from very large tankers that need to offload some of their cargo before they can fit into the canal.

Total earnings from the canal were almost $4.8bn (£3bn) in 2010, up 11% as the global economy recovered. Egypt has owned the canal since 1956, when Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal Company – prompting the Suez Crisis.

That’s around 5.5% of world output, according to the latest official forecasts.. Not yet.

Extra armed troops have been deployed along the length of SuMed – more than doubling the number of sentry points to 30. There are currently 65 ships passing through the canal, up from 40 yesterday.

Because oil traders are very nervous that the protests are going to spread beyond Egypt and across the Arabian peninsula – and probably won’t be reassured by the dismissal of the Jordanian government today. Oil prices have been rising for the last couple of months, as the economic recovery pushes up demand and eats into spare capacity.

Several analysts believe some level of disruption cannot be ruled out. Risk analysis firm Maplecroft suggested today that “concerns persist that the canal may come under attack by militants or even demonstrators”.

There have been local reports of major disruption at the ports of Alexandria and Damietta today, due to widespread staff shortages – this could potentially be mirrored in Suez, which has already been the scene of protests against Mubarak. Workers in the area have complained that their wages are unfairly low, compared with the value of the goods transported through the canal.

Sailing around Africa would add around two weeks to journey times, which could lead to some short-term supply issues – and potentially nudge up prices. A long-term closure would have major implications for the world economy.

World trade declined steadily through most of this period, according to research by James Feyrer, Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College. Barclays Capital has also analysed the impact of the eight-year closure, and discovered that Asian countries suffered the most.

Deliveries to Asia, in particular, suffered the most.”. Analysts point out that the eight-year closure prompted shipmakers to build larger oil tankers, as they were not constricted by having to fit into the 24 metre-deep, 205 metre-wide canal.

The ship’s Japanese owner is now aiming to get the ship out by Saturday, but some experts predict that the task could take weeks to accomplish. Here is how events unfolded:

The ship, which sails under a Panamanian flag, was headed for Rotterdam, Netherlands, from the Yantian district of China, according to the ship-tracking site Vessel Finder. Since its grounding became big news, some on social media noted the unfortunate shape traced by its path:

At around 7.40 a.m. local time Tuesday, the cargo ship ran aground.

Officials attributed the accident to high winds and sandstorms. Sandstorms are not unusual at this time of year in Egypt.

The was contradicted by the ship’s technical manager Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which said in a statement to Insider that “initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding.”. A satellite managed to capture a view of the Ever Given from space on Tuesday:

A satellite image shows the position of the Ever Given, represented by a green dot, surrounded by some tugs, marked in blue. Their relative size is not to scale.

Here is a view of one tugboat, the Baraka 1, in front of the Ever Given, provided by the Suez Canal Authority on Wednesday: Here is video of the attempts to move the ship:

Osama Rabie, chair of the SCA, talked to staff on a boat nearby: John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, suggested that the design of the ship’s bow — a large, bulbous prong embedded in the bank of the canal — could help explain how it got so badly stuck.

The spectacle of the stuck ship has attracted onlookers beyond the shipping trade, and soon became a meme. A particular favorite were references to the spy parody “Austin Powers” movies, in which a vehicle gets stuck in a corridor.

Insider gathered many of the best memes here.

“Four of them are stuck in the canal system while the rest are waiting to enter the passage,” the statement read.

The Suez Canal received an upgrade in 2015, when a newer channel was built alongside the one originally opened in 1869. On its opening, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called it “Egypt’s gift to the world.”.

“Ships have been diverted to the older channel to provide some relief to the current blockage,” he told Insider. “But the older channel is smaller, so larger vessels will need to wait until the main channel is reopened.”.

Hope appeared at around noon on Wednesday. Shipping agent GAC Egypt, citing the SCA, said that the ship had been moved “alongside” the canal bank, meaning it was parallel to the waterway.

But according to Bloomberg, the SCA has made no such announcement. An assistant manager at GAC Egypt, Ahmed Mekawy, said that the company had received inaccurate information, The Independent reported.

Dutch engineering company Boskalis — experts in dredging — joined the efforts to free the ship Thursday.

It’s an enormous weight on the sand,” he said, according to Reuters. The combined efforts of winches, excavation equipment and tugboats had so far failed, even at high tide.

The scale of the work ahead was illustrated by this picture released by the Suez Canal Authority Thursday: The Suez Canal is crucial to global supply chains.

Cargo shipping has been under enormous strain in the pandemic, with major difficulties in refreshing crews or servicing vessels, as Insider reported. The Ever Given’s position is another wrench in the works.

The Ever Given’s Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen, said Friday it was sending more tugboats and that it would aim to re-float it by around noon Saturday local time, Nikkei Asia reported.

“We can’t exclude it might take weeks, depending on the situation,” Reuters reported him as saying.

On Thursday, the Suez Canal Authority announced in a statement it was bringing in dredgers in order to move more than 700,000 cubic tons of sand from around the Ever Given so the ship could get moving again.

“In addition to the dredgers already on site a specialized suction dredger is now with the vessel and will shortly begin work. This dredger can shift 2,000 cubic meters of material every hour,” Ever Given’s managing company Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, said in a statement.

Another technique to use would be to remove cargo in a process called lightering, making it easier for the ship to float by itself.

tugboats. and dredging of sand,” Reuters reported Berdowski, the Dutch CEO, as saying.

“If we go through the lightering process, I suspect we’re talking weeks,” he told BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme.

The Panama Canal expansion project is finally nearing completion after more than half a decade of work and an investment of billions of dollars. The third set of locks is scheduled to allow super-ships to pass starting on the 27th of June, 2016.

The effects upon the shipping industry could be profound. The Panama Canal was conceived out of necessity.

A delay of weeks, or even months, meant lost profits and a changed arena. The industrial age canal was completed over a century ago, after the United States of America took over the the failed French project.

However, in response to increasing demand, shipping vessels have grown both in size and number. In 1914 only about 1000 ships used the shortcut, as compared to 14000 in 2014.

Modern super-ships are also becoming too large to fit through the locks. Cargo is often measured in TEUs, which stands for twenty foot equivalent units.

Previously, the Panama Canal could accommodate vessels that carried approximately 5000 units. This is known as the Panamax limit, which dictates dimensions and weight.

These Neo-Panamax ships, as they are called, presently account for almost twenty percent of the world’s shipping fleet. That ratio is expected to double before too long.

A long, pirate-infested route goes south and then west, threading the Suez Canal before crossing the Atlantic. Another long route goes east across the Pacific, then around the ship-killing tip of South America.

The fastest route is directly across the Pacific to one of the West Coast ports. From there the cargo is distributed and moved east using the American inter-modal system of planes, trucks and trains.

The attractiveness of each option is about to change. Once the expansion project is complete, it is expected to only take a few years before ten percent of container traffic has shifted to the eastern ports.

The fastest route will remain through the West Coast and the inter-modal system, but the most cost-effective way will now be directly to the East Coast, by way of the expanded Panama Canal. Ports on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States and in the Gulf of Mexico are preparing for the increased volume of the massive vessels by upgrading facility operations.

Even metropolitan cities like Chicago, Memphis, Detroit and Columbus will have a land-locked role to play as the battleground upon which the U.S. shipping industry competes starts to shift.

It is unclear how the Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans and Houston ports will be affected. In the west, the Seattle-Tacoma, Oakland and Los Angeles-Long Beach ports will likely experience a loss of market share but still see considerable traffic.

ports. Despite a favorable location, the frequent labor slow-downs and union posturing serves to tempt importers to seek less turbulent options.

As trade routes evolve, new shipping alternatives arise. The Panama Canal expansion project has created incentive to seek out new agreements and examine old contracts.

In comparison to the Africa-circumventing route, the Suez Canal is 8900 Km shorter and nine days faster. As a vital shortcut between East and West, it carries 12% of the yearly global trade and around 1 million oil barrels on a daily basis.

✓ Its highest daily transited tonnage reached 5.8M tons on the 6th of February 2019. ✓ Lloyd’s estimates the hourly cost of its blockage at $400M.

and its eastbound traffic at around $4.5B a day. ✓ The only current Suez- alternative is the China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor (CCAWEC) running from Western China to Europe, a component of China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) project.

Less Than load (LTL) management, supplier consolidation, and the distribution and delivery of re-supplies are significant new supply-chain differentiators, potentially impacting supply chain efficiencies. Ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC is a key pillar of 5G networks).

✓ Its IoT support has the potential to generate enormous quantities and types of previously unavailable supply-chain specific-data. it opens the very concrete possibility of instant, real-time M2M communications between the carrier, its containers, the departing and arriving destinations.

✓ The advent of autonomous driving has the potential to lower typical human error of truck-based transportation. ✓ Overdue advances in battery technology and the adjunct electricity-management software systems may position electric trucks and planes as a viable alternative to vessel-shipping.

Through artificial intelligence or machine learning (AI/ML), these millions of data can be used to tackle the critical questions in supply chain management. ✓ Blockchain technology may result in significant increases in the transparency of the supply chain.

The modern business environment is fluid and highly dynamic. Astute investors must keep abreast of all relevant geopolitical and technological changes as they usher in both foreseeable opportunities and considerable risks.

We will help you achieve a competitive advantage, break down barriers to productivity and plan your expansion, whether geographically or into new products and services. Russon, M.-A., 2021.

BBC News. Available at: [Accessed April 3, 2021].

Bloomberg.com. Available at: [Accessed April 3, 2021].

Available at: [Accessed April 3, 2021]. Banker, S., 2020.

Forbes. Available at: [Accessed April 3, 2021].

Using Blockchain to Drive Supply Chain Transparency and Innovation. Deloitte United States.

In the early hours of March 23, the container ship Ever Given was blown off course by high winds on its way through the Suez Canal. At 400 metres long, the Ever Given is longer than the canal is wide, and the ship became wedged firmly in both banks, completely blocking traffic.

About 10% of the world’s maritime trade passes through the canal, which allows ships to shorten the trip between Europe or the American east coast and Asia by thousands of kilometres, saving a week or more of travel time.

As the blockage continues, some shipping lines are considering diverting ships around Africa rather than wait for it to clear. Coming on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, this event has highlighted the fragility of global supply chains – and is likely to accelerate changes in the world economy that were already under way.

The blockage is disrupting important energy trades, but probably not dramatically as there are alternative routes and sources should the blockage last a long time.

While the SUMED pipeline, which runs parallel to the Suez Canal, will enable some crude to continue to flow between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, European and North American refiners will want to replace Middle East oil with oil from sources that don’t usually pass through the canal. Similarly, Asian refiners will want to replace North Sea crude oil.

Interest is growing in shipping crude oil around the Cape of Good Hope, which adds seven to ten days to the shipping time from the Middle East to Europe and North America, increasing the demand for ultra large crude carriers.

Owners of tankers carrying refined oil or LNG can expect a similar increase in demand for their ships and therefore charter rates. For commodities such as oil, LNG, coal and iron ore, there is a world demand and a world supply which must balance.

This means the blockage of the Suez Canal will affect the spot price of commodities locally and the charter rates for the ships that carry them, but the trade will continue.

These products tend to be highly differentiated and more difficult to substitute. The blockage of the Suez Canal will undoubtedly cause shortages of specific products around the world, either because they don’t arrive at their destinations on time or because manufacturers run short of key inputs or components.

Shortages will remind manufacturers of the fragility of global supply chains, and they may look at how to reduce their dependency on specific sources, particularly those that are distant and rely on container shipping. Advances in technology associated with digitisation and automation are making manufacturers less dependent on large skilled workforces found only in certain parts of the world.

More mobile production, along with the continued miniaturisation of some products (for example, flat screen TVs becoming ever flatter) and the advancing digitisation of things like books and manuals, is gradually shrinking global supply chains and reducing freight-kilometres, measured in terms of value or volume.

Read more: Suez Canal container ship accident is a worst-case scenario for global trade. This trend predates the pandemic and the current blockage.

After the global financial crisis of 2008-09, this number fell below 1% on average. This tells us that a 1% increase in world GDP now leads to a less than 1% increase in world seaborne trade.

The cost of the disruption caused by the blockage of the Suez Canal will weigh heavily with the insurers of the Ever Given. The ship is owned by Japanese firm Shoei Kisen Kaisha and chartered to the Taiwanese line Evergreen.

The major costs are loss of earnings by the Suez Canal Authority while the canal is closed to traffic, and losses incurred by the owners of the cargo in the many ships held up by the blockage. Depending on how long the blockage lasts, these may lead to huge insurance claims.

In the long term, however, the blockage may be a good thing. If it offers a further nudge to shorten supply chains, the benefits to the global economy and environment will surely outweigh the cost to the insurers.

Experts ponder the scenarios.

As a record-setting drought throttles transits through the Panama Canal, most of the focus has been on higher-capacity ships: the container vessels, liquefied natural gas carriers and liquefied petroleum gas carriers that use the larger Neopanamax locks. But there’s another shipping segment that’s seeing major fallout: the dry bulk vessels carrying U.S.

Trade patterns have already seen a major shift, with the majority of these dry bulk vessels now opting for the longer route via the Suez Canal.

Gulf to China and Asia, [the Panama Canal route] is the typical trade historically,” said Gary Vogel, CEO of Eagle Bulk (NYSE: EGLE), during a conference call last Friday. “We’re now routing our ships through the Suez, which adds about 10 days and is slightly more expensive in terms of canal dues.”.

Instead of going through the Panama Canal, ships are going through the Suez, which is extending ton-miles.” (Ton-miles is shipping demand measured in volume multiplied by distance.). “It’s definitely meaningful,” said Vogel, who also noted that ballasting (sailing empty) to the U.S.

“We have seen this just in the past week. We fixed one of our ships out of the U.S.

To put that in perspective, Clarksons Securities put average global spot rates for the ship sizes used by Eagle Bulk — Ultramaxes and Suezmaxes, with capacity of 45,000-65,000 deadweight tons (DWT) — at $12,400 per day last week, less than half the number cited by Vogel. U.S.

and Asia. Ship-position data from MarineTraffic shows that the majority of dry bulk vessels loaded with U.S.

(The data also includes bulkers carrying coal and other cargoes). According to U.S.

Gulf. The heightened importance of the Suez Canal to U.S.

The Suez Canal has been shut due to military action involving Israel twice before, in 1956 and in 1967-1975.

Polys Hajiouannou, CEO of Safe Bulkers (NYSE: SB), said during a conference call Wednesday: “There is a concern with the conflict. We don’t know how Egypt will react if there is an escalation, and if Egypt will take some steps to reduce the number of commercial ships passing through the Suez Canal.

Any restrictions to Suez Canal transits due to an escalation of the Israel-Hamas war would lead to even more rerouting of U.S. agribulk exports, and even longer voyages via the Cape of Good Hope.

farm exports if outbound volumes were higher.

USDA data on inspections of agribulk export cargoes shows year-to-date volumes through early November down 22% versus the same period in 2022 and 27% versus the same period in 2021. Inspections of wheat exports collapsed in the week ending Nov.

The focus ahead will turn to soybeans. U.S agribulk exports seasonally spike in November to January, driven by soybean cargoes.

The USDA recently lowered its forecast for U.S. soybean exports in the 2023-2024 marketing year (starting Sept.

soybean exports, which usually dominate the fourth quarter, will remain weak this year due to a lower harvest,” said shipping consultancy Drewry in a report published Tuesday. As a result, Drewry predicted that the upside in dry bulk freight rates due to diversions through the Suez “will be capped.”.

Canals are man-made waterways to connect major seawater routes for the smooth passage of vessels. Simply put it is an alternative shorter route created for vessels, particularly cargo vessels to save time and avoid traveling far out of their way.

Read on to know about the different canals of the world which are in no particular order. Table of Contents.

Length: 1,776 Km. Connection: Beijing-Hebei-Shandong-Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Hagzhou.

Today it is listed as one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. It connects northern and southern China while passing through several rivers.

It plays a major role in the transportation of tons of cargo which contributes greatly to the economy of the country. An estimated 100,000 vessels pass through this canal each year.

Length: 193.5 Km. Connection: Mediterranean Sea-Red Sea.

It is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt that was built between 1859 and 1869. Ferdinand De Lesseps and his team took ten years to build this canal.

It has been recognized as one of the most extensively used shipping routes in the world. Country: Panama.

Connection: Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The construction of the Panama Canal was one of the most ambitious projects in the history of mankind.

A solution to this was the use of Lock Gates on both sides to either lift the vessel or drop it to sea level. The Panama Canal opened in 1914 provides a link between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Country: Greece. Length: 6.4 km.

Corinth Canal, the narrowest and deepest canal in the world passes through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth. Construction of the canal began way back in the 7th century B.C.

The mastermind behind the construction of this canal was Hungarian architects Tyrr and Gerster who worked on this project for 12 years. The canal is considered important as it helps seafarers avoid the dangers of sailing around the Peloponnese’s treacherous underwater rocks while moving between the Gulf of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf.

This canal which serves about 15,000 ships from 50 countries is considered the most expensive canal in the world. Country: USA.

Connection: Albany-New York-Buffalo. Erie Canal, a historic canal in upstate New York began its construction in 1817 and was completed in 1825.

The first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes is considered one of the finest American accomplishments. The economic benefits of using this canal were enormous.

This canal was not just a financial success but it also triggered large-scale commercial, agricultural, and immigration development. Until the 20th century, the canal remained an essential water route connecting a number of cities, but today tourist ships form the basis of its major traffic flow.

Length: 98 km. Connection: Baltic Sea and the North Sea.

This artificial waterway helps vessels to bypass the longer route through Denmark. Kiel Canal links the North Sea to the Baltic Sea and provides a direct link between the two Sea regions.

With an average of 250 ships passing through the canal every day, it is considered the busiest man-made waterway in Europe. It took eight long years and more than 9,000 workers to complete the construction of the present-day canal.

Length: 171 km. Connection: North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea.

Construction of this most important sea route began during the First World War and was completed in 1992. The RMD canal runs from Bamberg on the Main River to Kelheim on the Danube River.

A total of 16 locks, 11 on the Rhine basin and the rest on the Danube had to be constructed to alternately lift and lower ships along their journey. Also Read: Travel Through Elaborate Waterways In These Beautiful Canal Cities.

The artificial sea-level waterway – Suez Canal in Egypt, is the world’s biggest canal. The Grand Canal of China is not only the world’s oldest canal but also the longest canal in the world.

With 8 meters (26 feet) depth, the Corinth Canal is considered to be the deepest canal in the world. The Kiel Canal of Germany which connects the North Sea and the Baltic Sea is the busiest canal in the world.

A large part of world trade takes place in maritime transportation and shipping routes. The additional areas provided by the maritime industry increase this trade volume and create a wide trade network.

There are essential parts in the functioning of world trade and maritime transportation. Ports, forwarders, carriers, digital service providers (for example, container tracking service), and workers are a big part of the pie.

We are going to list 5 major international shipping routes for global trade. These routes connected between countries, continents, and important ports.

The Panama Canal is the most significant trade route between Asia and the US. Its busiest trade route is Asia-East Coast US.

Every vessel saves anywhere between 2,000 and 8,000 nautical miles on every trip. The artificial shipping route reduces the journey by 8,000 miles, and the 67-day transit time is 10 hours.

The route was expanded in 2016, allowing larger vessels of up to 14,000 TEUs to pass. This increased the amount of cargo traveling on this trade lane.

This way, the transit time of 24 days is reduced to 16 hours. The shorter travel time helps to reduce shipping emissions and gets your shipment to the destination faster.

Due to the volume of trade between Asia & Europe, the biggest container ships will be deployed on this route once they are in service. The 2021 Suez Canal problem was a huge block to global trade.

It is an essential trade volume connection between Europe, the UK, and North America. Over 500 ships pass this channel every day.

The British port of Dover is on the British shore, and the French port of Calais is on the French side. This is due to the large number of vessel movements along this route.

Oresund, Great Belt, and Little Belt are the three channels that connect the Baltic Sea to the North Sea. These are essential transit points for trade between Russia and Europe.

The Strait of Malacca is a significant shipping route into and out of Asia. It forms the most substantial and central passageway between the Indian and Pacific oceans.

The port handles about 50,000 vessels annually, one quarter of all seaway traffic worldwide. The Strait of Malacca has a significant economic impact on China’s trade volume.

ShipsGo’s Service Finder Premium and the ShipsGo Container Tracking System can significantly improve your ability to manage transit times on shipping routes. ShipsGo’s comprehensive solution is designed for beneficial cargo owners and forwarders looking to streamline shipping operations.

You can choose the best route and carrier for your particular needs. Container Tracking also allows you to manage one dashboard and track your shipment in real time tracking to be fully aware of its progress and make necessary adjustments.

1 The Panama Canal The World’s Most Important Shortcut. 2 Where is Panama.

3 Panama is an isthmus. An isthmus is a narrow strip of land which has water on each side and connects two larger bodies of land.

4 WHAT IS A CANAL. An area of water that is dug across land.

5 Early History 1513 Vasco Nunez de Balboa crosses the isthmus of Panama and becomes the first European to see the Pacific Ocean 1524 Spanish explorer Hernon Cortes suggests that a path across the isthmus of Panama would be a great idea 1534 The King of Spain wants to build a canal through Panama Although these people knew how wonderful it would be to create this they didn’t have the ability to do it.

However first they have to come up with a plan to build the canal. In 1881 they finally start.

7 Building the Canal The next few pictures show what the area looked like when the French started building the canal. What challenges do you think they faced building a canal in this type of area.

10 After looking at these pictures what do you think would be the challenges of trying to build a canal through a tropical jungle and mountains.

After eight years France gives up on the project. Over 20,000 construction workers died working on the project for France and the company trying to build the canal goes bankrupt.

12 1904 The United States begins working on the Canal 1914 The canal is completed 1977 The United States signs a treaty with Panama and agrees to give Panama control of the canal in 1999 The United States. 13 Why was it so important to build a canal.

Theodore Roosevelt is president, and the United States is fast becoming one of the most powerful nations in the world. Such recent inventions as the telephone and the automobile make the 3,000 mile wide country seem a lot smaller.

14 Imagine you are living on the East Coast. Your family is in the clothing business and wants to sell clothes to new stores in San Francisco.

And trains are expensive for shipping goods.

The trip can easily take two months, and many ships are destroyed by terrible storms.

That could shorten the trip by nearly 8,000 miles.

He wants to build a canal across Panama to help families like yours expand their trade. He knows that the canal will also help the United States defend itself.

18 So the United States is ready to do what seemed impossible-to join the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. But a major decision had to be made.

Or should it follow the natural rise of the land. This would mean building locks (enclosed chambers with gates at each end) to raise and lower ships as they pass through the canal.

The decision was made in favor of having locks. Now they just had to figure out how to build them.

19 What are locks. A lock is a part of a canal with gates at each end where boats are raised or lowered to different water levels.

20 How do locks work. The ship goes through a set of gates into a lock chamber.

Then more water comes pouring into the chamber through valves. The ship rises like a toy boat in a bathtub filling with water.

It goes to the next lock and the water is raised again.

22 HERE ARE THE GIANT LOCKS BEING BUILT. 23 Here are the giant locks being built.

26 Here is one of the maps used when making the canal. 27 CHALLENGES OF BUILDING THE CANAL Just like when the French had tried to build the canal, the builders of the canal had to figure out how to cut a 51 mile path through a tropical jungle and an area of mountains.

28 Working Conditions Imagine working on the Panama Canal. By noon the temperature is about 100 degrees.

There is no shade, no air-conditioning, and no place to get cool.

Flooding makes the ground like pudding, and you can sink up to your knees in mud. Tropical diseases, such as yellow fever and malaria are spread easily by mosquitoes.

30 Working Conditions A tropical jungle may be a fascinating place for scientists to work, but for workers trying to build a canal it’s a nightmare. Imagine trying to dig out tons of dirt in a jungle like this.

31 Working conditions As one worker said, “There was no shelter from the sun or the rain. There were no trees, and when the sun shines, you get it.

32 THE BUILDING OF THE CANAL. 33.

35 Workers at the Panama Canal. 36 American Engineers working at the Panama Canal.

38 THE BUILDING OF THE CANAL. 39 1914 The Canal Opens.

41 The Panama Canal Today Today the canal is a busy place. Ships get stuck in traffic jams because there are so many of them and often have to wait up to 20 hours to go through the canal.

42 The Panama Canal is an important landmark and is considered by some to be the 8th Wonder of the World.

The week-long blockage of the Suez canal by the Ever Given container ship has reminded us that the canal, though immensely important to the world’s commerce, is also very vulnerable.

But it has also demonstrated how fears, rivalries and bottlenecks have threatened to obstruct that connectedness. Its narrowness has generated periodic panic and neurosis in the countries which rely on it most – often meaning Britain.

In 1882, Britain invaded and occupied Egypt, from an anxiety to secure the imperial link with India which seemed imperilled by Egyptian disorder. Its troops did not leave until 1956, after the debacle of the Suez crisis of that year.

Though the waterway came to be hugely symbolic for the British, it is too simple to see it as the only driver of British imperialism. It was merely the third stage of the transit arrangements across Egypt forged during the 19th century: to create effective communication with India, British entrepreneurs, helped by the state, pioneered a river and road connection in the 1830s between Alexandria and Suez, and then a railway in the 1850s.

In 1854, £6.4 million of currency was transferred across Egypt, as well as nearly 4,000 passengers. In 1851, the Royal Navy sent two warships to Alexandria to give “moral support” to the Egyptian viceroy’s approval of the railway, which was opposed by his nominal overlord, the sultan of the Ottoman empire.

In 1855, Lord Clarendon, the British foreign secretary, made clear to the sultan, the viceroy, and Napoleon III, the French emperor, that while Britain sought no territorial advantage in Egypt, it insisted on a “thoroughfare, free and unmolested”. The importance of this to Britain can be seen by the fact that, in 1857, 5,000 troops were sent through Egypt to quell the Indian mutiny.

In the 1850s, even Napoleon III accepted Britain’s primacy in Egypt, because of its ships in the Mediterranean and Red Sea. So did successive Egyptian viceroys.

So although the canal quickly became the most important of the Egyptian transit arrangements, its existence just confirmed what was already clear. Britain would stop any other power controlling Egypt, whenever the Ottoman empire tottered.

In the late 1850s, then prime minister Lord Palmerston opposed the canal’s construction. This was not so much because he imagined that France could ever control it in opposition to Britain (though a few people did fear this).

Many other British people did not worry about such things, and welcomed the canal as a symbol of peaceful global liberal modernisation. Likewise in France, Napoleon Bonaparte had, in 1800, urged an Egyptian canal as a way of challenging British rule in India.

Together with the completion of railroads and telegraph links across the United States and India, the opening of the Suez canal seemed a crucial part of the global communications revolution – something celebrated by Jules Verne’s novel Around the World in Eighty Days (1872). Britain supplied three-quarters of the canal’s shipping in 1870, and naturally became its major beneficiary.

It helped the east African slave trade, and so created new pressures for its control. It also helped the spread of contagious diseases, prompting the establishment of a regulatory bureaucracy to monitor passengers, including on racial criteria.

By 1884, around 3,000 ships had been grounded along the route.

Approval of its contribution to international commerce could easily give way to panics that rivals like Russia might use it to attack India. In 1888, a major conference agreed to the internationalisation of the canal.

Britain, however, insisted on adding a rider reserving the right of the Egyptian government, which it now effectively controlled, to close the canal whenever order was imperilled. In the first world war, Britain closed the canal to enemy ships and restricted merchant use to daylight hours.

Gladstone pointed out in 1877 that its dimensions made panic about a Russian assault on India via Suez ridiculous – ships could easily be scuttled there, or sappers employed to render it impassable in a few hours. It is worth remembering, finally, the cause of the canal’s bottlenecks.

It was a ditch dug by conscripted Egyptians. Thousands died in its making.

The project allowed critics to portray Egypt as still a land of slavery. The biblical Israelites had escaped this slavery because of divine intervention, in the form of the parting of the Red Sea.

In that sense, the sight of the Ever Given wedged against this ditch has been another reminder of an obvious truth, that global capitalism rests on labour – the labour of those who toil now to make the factory goods that fill its stacked rows of massive containers. And the labour of those who earlier sweated to build this narrow link between those manufacturers and their markets.

Criticism by dozens of retired Turkish admirals and diplomats warning the government not to open up for debate a key international treaty managing Turkey’s major waterways has created new controversy. The Turkish government last month approved President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to build a shipping canal in Istanbul similar to the Panama or Suez canals as an alternative to Turkey’s internationally used straits connecting Asia to Europe.

However, critics of the project say it opens up the key Montreux Convention signed in 1936 for discussion. The Montreux Convention regulates the use of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits – which link the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea – for cargo ships from other countries.

According to the text, the passages of war vessels through the straits are subject to restrictions that vary depending on whether they belong to countries with coasts along the Black Sea or not. Erdogan said in January the Montreux Convention would only apply to the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits in terms of maritime traffic, not the planned canal.

Montreux only binds the straits. This is totally outside Montreux.”.

Following that up, an open letter was signed by 104 retired admirals and published overnight on Saturday, causing an uproar among government officials who said it harkened back to coup times of Turkey’s past.

“We are of the opinion that there is a need to avoid any statements and actions that could cause the Montreux Convention, an important treaty in terms of Turkey’s survival, to be brought up for discussion,” the statement said. Turkey’s opposition parties have also expressed similar criticism of the project in previous months.

Ten retired admirals who signed the open letter were detained. Four other suspects were ordered to report within three days to Ankara police, which opted not to detain them because of their age.

The Turkish military staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and another recent attempt in 2016. The failed overthrow of Erdogan by a group in the military in 2016 was blamed on followers of United States-based Muslim preacher and businessman Fethullah Gulen.

Following the failed coup, tens of thousands of people were held pending trial and civil servants, military personnel and others were jailed, sacked or suspended. More than 20,000 people have been expelled from the Turkish military.

Ankara says the country upholds the rule of law and necessary moves are taken with the aim to remove Gulen’s supporters from state institutions.

A cargo ship has gone aground in the Suez Canal near El Qantara, in the Egyptian state of Ismailia.

The Suez Canal is one of the most important waterways in the world. In fact, numerous ships with materials and shipments pass through the canal every day.

Back in 2021, Panamanian-flagged container ship Ever Given, which is part of the Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen fleet, ran aground in the middle of a sandstorm while carrying a cargo of more than 18,000 containers. Traffic was blocked in the canal and the incident resulted in losses of between 72 and 90 million euros in six days.

The Suez Canal Authority demanded the ship’s owners pay a 772 million euro fine, which was reduced to 463 million euros for the damages caused. The Suez Canal was opened in 1869 and is an important route for the transit of oil, natural gas and other cargo from East to West.

Around 10 percent of the world’s trade moves through the canal, which is still one of Egypt’s largest sources of revenue.

The Suez Canal (Egyptian Arabic: قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, Qanāt es-Suwais) is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest of Egypt). The 193.30-kilometre-long (120.11 mi) canal is a key trade route between Europe and Asia.

In 1858, Ferdinand de Lesseps formed the Suez Canal Company for the express purpose of building the canal. Construction of the canal lasted from 1859 to 1869.

It offers vessels a direct route between the North Atlantic and northern Indian oceans via the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, avoiding the South Atlantic and southern Indian oceans and reducing the journey distance from the Arabian Sea to London by approximately 8,900 kilometres (5,500 mi), to 10 days at 20 knots (37 km/h.

28 mph). The canal extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez.

The original canal featured a single-lane waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass and the Great Bitter Lake. It contained, according to Alois Negrelli’s plans, no locks, with seawater flowing freely through it.

South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez.

The canal is operated and maintained by the state-owned Suez Canal Authority (SCA) of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used “in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag.” Nevertheless, the canal has played an important military strategic role as a naval short-cut and choke point.

After Egypt closed the Suez Canal at the beginning of the Six-Day War on 5 June 1967, the canal remained closed for precisely eight years, reopening on 5 June 1975.

The expansion intended to nearly double the capacity of the Suez Canal, from 49 to 97 ships per day. At a cost of LE 59.4 billion (US$9 billion), this project was funded with interest-bearing investment certificates issued exclusively to Egyptian entities and individuals.

The Suez Canal Authority officially opened the new side channel in 2016. This side channel, at the northern side of the east extension of the Suez Canal, serves the East Terminal for berthing and unberthing vessels from the terminal.

Ancient west–east canals were built to facilitate travel from the Nile to the Red Sea. One smaller canal is believed to have been constructed under the auspices of Senusret II or Ramesses II.

James Henry Breasted attributes the earliest-known attempt to construct a canal to the first cataract, near Aswan, to the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt and its completion to Senusret III (1878–1839 BCE) of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt.

(It is said that in ancient times the Red Sea reached northward to the Bitter Lakes and Lake Timsah).

One of their kings tried to make a canal to it (for it would have been of no little advantage to them for the whole region to have become navigable. Sesostris is said to have been the first of the ancient kings to try), but he found that the sea was higher than the land.

Strabo wrote that Sesostris started to build a canal, and Pliny the Elder (23/24–79 CE) wrote:. 165.

this is a distance of over 60 miles (100 km). Later the Persian king Darius had the same idea, and yet again Ptolemy II, who made a trench 100 feet (30 m) wide, 30 feet (9 m) deep and about 35 miles (55 km) long, as far as the Bitter Lakes.

In the 20th century, the northward extension of the later Darius I canal was discovered, extending from Lake Timsah to the Ballah Lakes. This was dated to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt by extrapolating the dates of ancient sites along its course.

The reliefs of the Punt expedition under Hatshepsut, 1470 BCE, depict seagoing vessels carrying the expeditionary force returning from Punt. This suggests that a navigable link existed between the Red Sea and the Nile.

Remnants of an ancient west–east canal through the ancient Egyptian cities of Bubastis, Pi-Ramesses, and Pithom were discovered by Napoleon Bonaparte and his engineers and cartographers in 1799.

Regardless, Necho is reported as having never completed his project.

According to Pliny the Elder, Necho’s extension to the canal was about 92 kilometres (57 statute miles), equal to the total distance between Bubastis and the Great Bitter Lake, allowing for winding through valleys. The length that Herodotus tells, of over 1,000 stadia (i.e., over 183 kilometres or 114 miles), must be understood to include the entire distance between the Nile and the Red Sea at that time.

With Necho’s death, work was discontinued. Herodotus tells that the reason the project was abandoned was because of a warning received from an oracle that others would benefit from its successful completion.

Necho’s project was completed by Darius I of Persia, who ruled over Ancient Egypt after it had been conquered by his predecessor Cambyses II. It may be that by Darius’s time a natural waterway passage which had existed between the Heroopolite Gulf and the Red Sea in the vicinity of the Egyptian town of Shaluf (alt.

According to Herodotus, Darius’s canal was wide enough that two triremes could pass each other with oars extended, and required four days to traverse. Darius commemorated his achievement with a number of granite stelae that he set up on the Nile bank, including one near Kabret, and a further one a few kilometres north of Suez.

King Darius says: I am a Persian. setting out from Persia I conquered Egypt.

Therefore, when this canal had been dug as I had ordered, ships went from Egypt through this canal to Persia, as I had intended. The canal left the Nile at Bubastis.

In Arsinoe, Ptolemy constructed a navigable lock, with sluices, at the Heroopolite Gulf of the Red Sea, which allowed the passage of vessels but prevented salt water from the Red Sea from mingling with the fresh water in the canal.

This proved to be the canal made by Darius I, as his stele commemorating its construction was found at the site. (This ancient, second canal may have followed a course along the shoreline of the Red Sea when it once extended north to Lake Timsah.

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Under the blue skies of Greece, a giant vessel slowly makes its way through the rocky walls of a narrow, artificial waterway, with just a few inches to spare on either side, while those on board take in the engineering marvel in front of them.

The canal cut through the isthmus of Corinth in Greece, linking the Ionian Sea with the Aegean, effectively turning the Peloponnese peninsula into an island, and creating an international maritime hub that transformed navigation in southern Europe.

The hunt for the world’s most elusive shipwrecks. “It was a complex and challenging undertaking,” George Zouglis, general manager at Corinth Canal SA, told CNN of the bisecting of the isthmus.

“Without a doubt, one of the greatest engineering achievements of its time that used the most advanced available technology.”. Now a hugely popular destination, it’s the second most-visited tourist landmark in Greece today, according to Zouglis, attracting people from all over the world.

Basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson was among the many visitors to cross the canal last summer.

and 6 p.m. on Tuesdays when maintenance work is carried out.

Certain vessels, including those exceeding 800 net tonnage or carrying potentially dangerous cargoes, must be towed by tugboats, with canal pilots assisting in the passage.

But whatever way you’re crossing the Corinth Canal, the sight is majestic.

The prospect of digging a canal across the narrow isthmus had been floating around for more than two centuries before the project came about, with various stops and starts.

Accounts from the time say his plan was abandoned after Pythia, the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and the god’s mouthpiece, proclaimed that such an endeavor would incur “the Gods’ wrath”.

Much of the wealth of Corinth is believed to have come from the high duties paid by merchants in order to gain access to “Diolkos,” a stone-paved road that allowed vessels – greased with animal fat and mounted on wheeled carriages – to be dragged overland from the Gulf of Corinth to the Saronic Gulf, thus avoiding the circumnavigation of the Peloponnese.

Vestiges of the famous trackway can still be seen on the isthmus today.

In the time that followed, several Roman emperors including Julius Caesar and Caligula are also believed to have toyed with the idea.

Historians say the emperor himself broke ground on the ambitious project at 67 CE, using a golden pick.

To this day, visitors sailing through the canal can admire an ancient relief carved into the giant rock dedicated to Nero.

As centuries rolled by, the Byzantines, Venetians and others also explored the concept – but efforts never went very far.

However, the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt in 1869 revitalized discussions and on April 23, 1882, work began once again.

“That is, Nero’s route was considered as the most economical and most advantageous for the construction of the modern canal.”. During the next 11 years, a total of 12 million cubic meters of soil would be extracted to create an 8-meter deep canal that crosses the isthmus in a straight line at a length of 6,343 meters.

Overall, some 2,500 people worked on the construction of the project, using cutting-edge machinery imported mainly from France.

In the decades that followed, the Corinth Canal became a major hub with a “priceless” navigational value for vessels heading from the Adriatic Sea, the Ionian and the western Mediterranean to ports in the Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean, and vice versa, Zouglis said.

In 1923, 41,000 cubic meters of soil fell into the canal, bringing about a two-year closure.

But the largest disruption so far happened back in 1944, when departing Nazi German occupying forces threw a large number of railway vehicles into the canal and proceeded to blow up its slopes and bridge.

While it remains an important navigational route, the canal’s width at sea level is 24.6 meters and at its bottom 21.3 meters, making many vessels today too wide to cross it, while the two striking vertical slabs of rock framing it reach up to 79 meters above sea level.

Unfortunately, the canal was shut again in 2021, this time due to landslides, and a €32 million ($32 million) restoration project was put in place.

According to the Corinth Canal Company, it managed to operate without interruption during the summer of 2022, recording its most successful performance in 20 years.

Over the years, the Corinth Canal has also become a favorite with adrenaline seekers, who can experience an exhilarating thrill ride by bungee jumping off a platform at about 80 meters above sea level.

Plans to open a museum and a digital site showcasing artifacts reflecting the canal’s long and complicated history are underway ahead of an anticipated 2024 launch.

“We want to highlight the cultural and highlight value of the canal – one that comes from ancient times,” adds Zouglis.

New expansions in the Suez Canal to be completed by 2023. New expansions in the Suez Canal to be completed by 2023.

Kamal Tabikha Cairo, EgyptJul 28, 2021Listen In EnglishListen in ArabicPowered by automated translation. Kamal Tabikha Cairo, EgyptJul 28, 2021Listen In EnglishListen in ArabicPowered by automated translation.

Kamal Tabikha Cairo, EgyptJul 28, 2021. Kamal Tabikha Cairo, EgyptJul 28, 2021.

Kamal Tabikha Cairo, EgyptJul 28, 2021. Kamal Tabikha.

Cairo, Egypt. Jul 28, 2021.

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Drought-related problems in the Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, have raised alarm bells. According to an announcement by the Panama Canal Authority, the maximum number of transits will be limited to 32 ships per day until September 2, Reuters reported.

Congestion on the canal, one of the world’s busiest trade gateways, has prompted companies that usually use the waterway to seek alternative routes. The Panama Canal is reducing costs and transit times for many shippers, including major retailers and energy companies trading between China and the United States (US).

Since the beginning of the year, the canal had imposed a series of depth restrictions as drought caused by the El Nino weather event put pressure on water resources. However, in June, the canal postponed further restrictions that would have required ships to lighten their loads for easier passage.