As a record-setting drought throttles transits through the Panama Canal, most of the focus has been on higher-capacity ships: the container vessels, liquefied natural gas carriers and liquefied petroleum gas carriers that use the larger Neopanamax locks. But there’s another shipping segment that’s seeing major fallout: the dry bulk vessels carrying U.S. grain that use the smaller Panamax locks. Trade patterns have already seen a major shift, with the majority of these dry bulk vessels now opting for the longer route via the Suez Canal (source: FreightWaves).
