“It seems that the situation [of the routes] in Asia is normalizing, but what is happening on the east coast of the United States is not yet clear to us,” Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez stated.

Six per cent of world trade transits the Canal operations are linked to 1,700 ports, serving 144 sea routes and 160 countries.

Vásquez, who had cautioned at the beginning of the year about the great challenge of maintaining water and hence the need to set a fixed charge for the use of this tool, said that it would not be until the end of April when there would be a amount of ship traffic that would respond to current circumstances, which could somehow serve as a barometer for the coming months.

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) calculated $3.26 billion in taxes for 2020, and $1.824 billion in direct contributions to the administration. 

Today, and for at least the next 14 days, the Panama Canal operates with a workforce of 3,600 of its 10,000 workers as part of the temporary and drastic steps taken in the route's operations as a result of the Covid-19 global pandemic.

Maritime Business World