Nowadays is well known that climate change is on the way, but we are also experiencing that. Leaving aside the impacts on daily life and the macroeffects already fully covered by other authors, let’s focus on maritime trades.
In the last years we faced a lot of troubles related to extremely powerful weather conditions capable of forcing shipowners to re-routes their vessels in order to avoid them.
Just to explain this topic better let’s delve into some examples:
- As global warming progresses, it inevitably causes the melting of some glaciers and as a result the average sea level can only grow, so if there are some straights or portion of water overtopped by a bridge or other structure which are impossible to be removed we will find ourselves unable to navigate such waters because of their average rise.
- On the other hand there are specific areas where average water levels are dropping due to severe drought also due to higher temperatures developed as a result of global warming, we can focus our attention on two main cases:
A) Panama Canal: A naturally occurring El Ninõ climate pattern associated with warmer-than-usual water in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean is contributing to Panama’s drought,leading the canal authority to restrict the size and number of vessels crossing the waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and serves as a vital route for maritime trade. Water levels in Gatun Lake, the rainfall-fed principal reservoir that floats ships through the Panama Canal’s lock system, have remained below normal despite accumulation from the current rainy season. Moreover, due to attacks by Houthi militants against vessels going through the Red Sea toward the Suez Canal, in the last months Panama’s Authority has faced demand peaks for the canal by shippers whom began seeking alternative routes to Suez. All the above can result into “a perfect storm” capable of cause enormous damage to global maritime trades.
B) Rhine River: The Rhine is an important shipping route for raw materials such as grain, chemicals, minerals, coal and oil products including fuel oil, that’s why many Companies are keeping a close eye on its water levels as a key to define their trades on the river. Unfortunately, heatwaves across Europe have led to severe river depth lows, earlier than the typical drought period in the area, which cause the impossibility for the barges to cross the river and carry on their duty. As some ships were unable to traverse the key waterway fully loaded, German’s authority called for the river to be dredged to allow for more freight to travel along it, but is quite clear that it represent only a palliative solution to the drought problem
3. Furthermore, another example of new routes designed by climate change that should be considered is the creation of new artic’s routes, i.e. the Northwest Passage, again caused by the melting of great portions of artic polar cap. In such case we deal with the possibility to use new stretches of sea maybe more profitable but at the same time more dangerous, capable of constituting real double-edged swords. The danger comes precisely from the navigation through ice or at least routes that used to be part of it which increases the risk of crossing icebergs and ice shelves capable of lead to serious vessel’s damages.
4. Last but not least there is the problem related to to the ever-increasing storms/hurricanes/typhoons or anyway extraordinary weather conditions, such as overly rough sea and wind which force several ships to deviate from standard routes because of the danger of partial or total cargo losses.
All the cases above show how shipowners are subjugated of weather conditions and increasingly forced to deviate from well-known routes to undertake safer ones that are often less economical and connected not only by higher monetary costs but also by higher external costs (CO2 emissions due to longer legs) and the possibility of supply chain’s disruptions.
Finally, we must consider that these kind of non-standard wheather conditions could strike also the ports, the backbone of the maritime infrastructure, capable of managing flows in and out of the mainland. Well, in such case, the functionality of numerous port facilities could be compromised, impeding port operations for a specific period (i.e. the natural disaster which struck Port of Gulfport during Hurricane Katrina’s Crisis). As a result, we may once again face even more serious supply chain disruptions than those involving only one or a few ships, as we are now talking about an entire port.
#Climatechanges #Shipping #Globalwarming #GlobalSupplyChain #Panamacanal #SlothSea
