The situations at the Panama Canal and Suez Canal are rapidly evolving and inherently uncertain. As a result, this article and the data and analysis it sets out should be treated as a best-efforts perspective at a specific point in time, which seeks to help inform discussion and decisions. The article does not set out economic or geopolitical forecasts and should not be treated as doing so.
Since its opening in 1914, the Panama Canal has played a vital role in world trade. An estimated 2.5 percent of global seaborne trade sails through its locks in an average year. In 2023, there were more than 14,000 vessel transits on this pathway between seas.
The operation of the canal’s locks (which use gates to raise or lower water levels in…
