Panama Canal authorities have warned they may reduce the number of ships permitted to transit the waterway if a strengthening El Niño worsens an ongoing drought. The canal, which handles roughly 5 percent of global maritime trade, has already cut its daily ship limit from 36 to 34, with a further reduction to 32 scheduled for 15 September; the new administrator of the Panama Canal Authority (the government body that oversees the 80-kilometre waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans), Ilya Espino de Marotta, has not ruled out dropping the limit as low as 29 by early 2026. The situation is being closely watched because the canal's lock system depends on freshwater from two artificial lakes replenished by rainfall, and this year's El Niño — which disrupts global weather patterns — is forecast to be the strongest on record, compounding pressure on a route whose importance has grown as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has declined amid Middle East tensions.