In a Wednesday bulletin, the Panama Canal Authority reported that the number of ships passing through the canal decreased slightly from 32.6 to 32.5 per day on average in August.

The number of slots available per day has not been fully allocated despite the fact that traffic on the second busiest interoceanic waterway in the world increased last year after passage restrictions were lifted due to the severe drought.

Ricaurte Vasquez said on Wednesday, on the sidelines a conference, that the canal will be on track to record gross incomes of around $5 billion for the fiscal year ending in this month, as planned in the budget of the country.

He added that the canal is expecting to move 500 million metric tonnes of cargo by this year's end. The waterway earned $4.99 billion in the fiscal year ending September 2024 despite the severe drought which forced a decrease in traffic. In that time, it handled 423 millions tons of cargo.

Vasquez, a reporter, said: "We will meet our goals and in particular what the central government has asked of us."

He said that the imposition of U.S. Tariffs has caused many shippers, to increase imports in advance of Christmas, contributing to the improved performance of the canal this fiscal year.

Vasquez stated that the expected decline in ship traffic in the next months will be offset by the passage of larger vessels with more cargo.

(source: Reuters)