The Big Story

The Panama Canal is running dry, sending global shipping into chaos (again)

Episode Summary

It hasn't been an easy few years for global shipping—to say the least. From the pandemic to multiple conflicts, to accidents and disasters, getting products from point A to point B has never been less reliable or more expensive. And now a prolonged drought has the Panama Canal operating at a fraction of its usual capacity. What kind of price hikes or product shortages are at stake here? Is this temporary, or a new normal in the climate era? And if it is a new normal, what other shipping lanes might open as southern ones dry up? Should Canada be looking North? GUEST: Mie Højris Dahl, reporting in Foreign Policy

Episode Notes

It hasn't been an easy few years for global shipping—to say the least. From the pandemic to multiple conflicts, to accidents and disasters, getting products from point A to point B has never been less reliable or more expensive. And now a prolonged drought has the Panama Canal operating at a fraction of its usual capacity.

What kind of price hikes or product shortages are at stake here? Is this temporary, or a new normal in the climate era? And if it is a new normal, what other shipping lanes might open as southern ones dry up? Should Canada be looking North?

GUEST: Mie Højris Dahl, reporting in Foreign Policy