Continuing drought problems in the Panama Canal and consequential restrictions on daily transits have prompted Maersk to modify OC1 service, operating between Oceania and the Americas.
In a Customer Advisory, the Danish shipping company points out that due to the state of Lake Gatun, in the middle of the canal, where water levels are unusually low, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has been forced to reduce the amount and weight of ships that can pass through the canal. “While we continue to work closely with the ACP, moderating and aligning our operations to fit the changes, we have made changes to services to ensure that our customers are impacted as minimally as possible.”
The carrier states that the boxships it uses for the service will no longer transit the Canal but will disembark directly in Panama. From there, the goods will be loaded onto trains to be transported to the other side of the canal.
A 80 km railway bridge will, in short, connect the Pacific with the Atlantic. Ships using the Pacific will sail to Balboa (Panama), unloading goods for Latin America and North America and picking up cargo going to Australia and New Zealand. Ships using the Atlantic will sail to Manzanillo, Panama, unloading goods bound for Australia and New Zealand and picking up cargo for Latin America and North America.
Translation by Giles Foster
