As AP reports, Japan surpassed China and is becoming the second-biggest user of the Panama Canal, in light of a trade war between Beijing and Washington. The US remains the leader in using the canal.
Specifically, China’s third place is due to the fact that there’s a decrease in shipments of natural and liquid petroleum gas as the Asian giant is buying less of them from the United States.
In addition, administrator Jorge Quijano, reported that there is an additional reduction in container traffic between China and the US.
Cargo ships are not contributing as much as before because they come with lots of empty space.
… added Administrator Quijano.
He continued that it’s early to speculate whether the drop in shipping between the US and China will affect the canal earnings forecast for the current fiscal year through the end of September.
The administrator also highlighted that May was a good year for the Canal, and the administration now awaits for June’s results.
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As mentioned above, the US remains the biggest user of the canal, as during the last fiscal year, 174.9 million tons of cargo were shipped to and from the country through the waterway, or a little over 60% of total tonnage.
About 5% of global shipping crosses through the Panama Canal.
