Spare a thought for the growers of fresh produce in the Republic of Panama who are facing challenging circumstances due to the drought. Amidst the world focus on the increasing shipping delays due to lower water levels in the Panama Canal, it is easy to forget that residents and producers of fruit in the country are battling the drought conditions too.

The drought across large parts of South America including Panama is becoming a serious problem for producers says Ing. Eliezer Dominguez owner of Capitan Piña, a pineapple grower in Panama. According to him the drought and resultant lack of rain is becoming a major challenge for producers in the country. “What is really affecting us is the dry season, there is not enough rain and the performance to reach big sizes in pineapples are getting difficult. Also the cost of production is increasing because we are forced to use other alternatives to help our plantation to avoid water stress due to the high temperatures.”

The Panama Canal Authority has advised in a recent statement that due to the lower water levels they are only allowing an average of 32 vessels per day to go through instead of the normal average of 37 a day. This is causing delays on both sides of the canal with around 150 vessels said to be waiting to take the 82 km shortcut connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This major shipping route has started to see delays of up to 2-3 weeks per vessel according to shipping experts.

Dominguez, a former shipping captain from Panama who became a pineapple farmer, says at this stage the delayed shipments and restrictions through the Panama Canal are not affecting their export shipments. “Well basically the situation with draft is not affecting us because the restrictions are for ships above 10 mts draught. The common ship that carry our containers are ships with draught less than 10 mts,” he concluded.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com