As has happened with the mighty Paraná River in the heartland of South America, with the Amazon in northern South America, and even with the Panama Canal, all of them suffering lack of rainfall to keep basins flowing with sufficient water levels, now has come the turn of the Mississippi with insufficient draft for the vessels and barges involved in transporting US grains.
Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile and the South American continent is again illusioned with the re edition of pre 1914 times, before the United States finished the Panama Canal and created the state of Panama, significantly cutting the time of shipping wishing to cross from the Pacific to the Caribbean and vice versa, and ensuring safe and reliable links between the East and West coasts of the US.
Higher shipping costs as the Panama Canal, one of the world’s main maritime trade routes, will further reduce daily ship crossings in the coming months due to a severe drought, the authorities managing the canal.
On both sides of the Panama Canal, fleets of ships find themselves immobilized, delayed by weeks as waterway authorities have slowed traffic to conserve water amid a severe drought. A report from the Brazilian news agency O-Globo gives a detailed picture of what is happening.