[ti:Panama Cuts Canal Traffic as Water Levels Drop]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]Officials have ordered restrictions
[00:03.28]on shipping traffic in the Panama Canal
[00:07.00]because of reduced water levels.
[00:10.44]The latest restrictions limit ship crossings
[00:14.96]through the canal by 36 percent.
[00:18.48]The Panama Canal is one of the world's
[00:21.72]busiest waterways,
[00:23.92]linking the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
[00:27.76]Canal officials have estimated reduced water levels
[00:33.04]could cost them between $500 million
[00:37.12]and $700 million in 2024, The Associated Press reports.
[00:44.64]The losses are linked to tolls shipping companies
[00:49.72]must pay to pass through the Panama Canal.
[00:53.92]The Central American nation is experiencing drought,
[00:59.32]or extremely dry weather.
[01:01.92]The climate condition can slow traffic
[01:05.16]and reduce safety in the 80-kilometer canal.
[01:09.80]Panama Canal Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez said
[01:15.36]the new restrictions reduce daily ship crossings to 24.
[01:21.28]The latest cut followed additional reductions last year.
[01:26.56]There were 38 crossings a day in normal times last year.
[01:32.76]Vásquez told the AP,
[01:35.40]"It's vital that the country sends a message
[01:39.24]that we're going to take this on
[01:41.56]and find a solution to this water problem."
[01:45.36]He added that in the first quarter of the fiscal year,
[01:50.12]the waterway saw a 20 percent reduction in goods
[01:54.72]and 791 fewer ships
[01:58.72]than during the same period the year before.
[02:02.60]Vásquez said the reductions
[02:05.80]were part of necessary control measures
[02:09.20]to make sure water levels remain high enough
[02:13.16]to permit at least 24 ships to pass daily.
[02:18.20]Officials are hoping the situation
[02:21.16]will improve in April,
[02:23.52]when the new rainy season starts.
[02:26.88]Weather experts blame the drought
[02:30.08]on climate change and the weather system
[02:33.52]called El Nino.
[02:35.64]El Nino is a warming of surface temperatures
[02:40.08]in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean.
[02:43.88]This event usually causes hot,
[02:47.28]dry weather in Asia and Australia
[02:50.72]and can drive weather changes
[02:53.16]in other parts of the world.
[02:55.76]Vásquez warned that Panama must
[02:58.84]seek new water sources
[03:01.28]for both the canal's operations
[03:04.24]and drinking water.
[03:06.28]The same lakes that fill the canal also produce water
[03:11.04]for more than half of the country's 4 million people.
[03:15.36]"The water problem is a national problem,
[03:19.12]not just of the canal," Vásquez said.
[03:23.60]"We have to address this issue across the entire country."
[03:28.32]However, Vásquez told Reuters news agency
[03:32.96]he expects the waterway to meet its latest earnings targets,
[03:37.96]in part because of recent increases in tolls.
[03:42.80]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM