A year-long drought is limiting the number of ships able to pass through the Panama Canal and thus is reducing the number of ships coming into the Port of Fernandina.
Nassau Marine Terminal Director of Operations Greg Haehl reported to the Ocean Highway Port Authority last week that port traffic has been reduced about 40 percent in December due to restricted traffic through the canal.
"If we went back to October, we would have forecast eight vessel calls for December," Haehl said, reporting the port had five ship calls for December. "Because of Panama canal restrictions, we're seeing fewer ships and its affecting some of our customers in a big way. There have been work a rounds, so with think some of those customers have found a way to get through the canal."
Last week, canal authorities cut daily ship crossings to 24, down from 38 a day in normal times last year. Canal authorities reported that in the first quarter of the fiscal year the passageway saw 20% less cargo and 791 fewer ships than the same period the year before.
Canal authorities attributed the drought to the El Niño weather phenomenon and climate change, and warned it was urgent for Panama to seek new water sources for both the canal’s operations and human consumption.
"The costs to get some of the bigger ships through, 10 years ago it was $500,000. A few months ago is was $3 million per ship. It is a hindrance to some of our customers. It can block them, delay loads, delay calls and delay volumes," Haehl said. "We're happy to see our customers are working around it. Finding ways to get ships through the canal."
According to the tonnage report provided at the meeting, tonnage was down 120,000 tons in 2023 compared to the previous year. The biggest decline were in plywood, Kraft Line Board imports and container tons.
Haehl said the port is profitable with five-plus ships per month. He said Nassau Marine Terminal has no control over the amount of cargo on each ship. "What we can influence is the acquisition of new customers," he said.
Haehl reported his company recently hired a commercial resource who is based in Jacksonville to recruit new customers.
A new customer this month, is a company storing container-sized electrical transformers for solar farms is now coming into the port.
"We could see volume (from them) for one to three years," he said.
LOL- blaming "Climate Change." :-). Meanwhile, it's raining cats and dogs in Cali. If Americans were still running the canal, there would probably be few problems and even fewer excuses. Thank you, Peanut Jimmy.