The Panama Canal is reducing the maximum number of ships allowed to travel the waterway to 31 per day due to a drought that has cut the supply of fresh water needed to operate the locks.

The Panama Canal announced Saturday it will reduce the maximum number of ships travelling the waterway to 31 per day, from 32 in August, due to a drought that has reduced the supply of fresh water needed to operate the locks.

That compares to daily averages of 36 to 38 ships per day under normal operation.

Nine ships per day will be allowed to use the new, bigger NeoPanamax locks and 22 per day will be handled through the older Panamax locks.

  • hydrospanner@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    WTF are you on about?

    All locks work the same way as these ones, even the most modern locks in the US.

    They’re not “powered” by fresh water, they’re using the normal flow of water, harnessed by valve systems, to either allow water to accumulate in the chamber or prevent that accumulation, depending on what they’re trying to achieve. The only energy consumed is a relatively small amount of electricity to power the hydraulics that open and close the valves and the lock gates themselves. Everything else is gravity.