# Focus: Historic drought, hot seas slow Panama Canal shipping | Reuters

> The Panama Canal Authority has cut maximum ship weights and daily crossings to conserve water during a historic drought. Restrictions have affected about 170 countries and include US soybean and LNG shipments, and China-US spot shipping prices have risen as much as 36%.

- Date: 2023-08-21 · published 2023-08-21T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: logistics · region Panama Canal · magnitude medium
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/34460-focus-historic-drought-hot-seas-slow-panama-canal-shipping-reuters
- Commodities: [Ocean Grain Freight](https://feedsoft.ai/c/OCEANFRT.md), [Soybeans](https://feedsoft.ai/c/SOY.md)

## Why it matters

Fewer transits lengthen voyages and raise freight costs for US soybean and grain exports to Asia, which can widen US export basis and lift ocean freight.

## Read by commodity

- SOY: bearish ▼
- OCEANFRT: bullish ▲

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SOY | 2019-04-30 | [Drought hits Panama Canal shipping, highlights climate fears \| AP News](https://feedsoft.ai/events/59496-drought-hits-panama-canal-shipping-highlights-climate-fears-ap-news.md) | -3.5% | +1.0% |
| SOY | 2023-12-11 | [Panama Canal drought to delay grain ships well into 2024 \| Reuters](https://feedsoft.ai/events/32462-panama-canal-drought-to-delay-grain-ships-well-into-2024-reuters.md) | +0.9% | -4.8% |
| SOY | 2024-08-14 | [Gas and grain ships shun Panama Canal after drought disruption](https://feedsoft.ai/events/17006-gas-and-grain-ships-shun-panama-canal-after-drought-disruption.md) | -3.2% | -0.9% |
| SOY | 2023-06-24 | [US trade dominates Panama Canal traffic. A drought is threatening it](https://feedsoft.ai/events/35379-us-trade-dominates-panama-canal-traffic-a-drought-is-threatening-it.md) | +4.2% | +1.9% |
| SOY | 2020-01-15 | [Panama Canal adds fees, changes booking as it fights drought \| Supply Chain Dive](https://feedsoft.ai/events/54986-panama-canal-adds-fees-changes-booking-as-it-fights-drought-supply-chain-dive.md) | -1.6% | -3.9% |

## Sources

- reuters.com: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/historic-drought-hot-seas-slow-panama-canal-shipping-2023-08-21/

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.