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Panama Canal sees spike in vessel traffic due to war in Middle East

By Thomson Reuters Apr 28, 2026 | 6:05 PM

PANAMA CITY, April 28 (Reuters) – The Panama Canal Authority, ​an autonomous ‌agency that runs the major freight channel through Central America, ‌on ​Tuesday said ⁠the U.S.-Iran ⁠war in the Middle East should cause more shipments to ​travel through the canal.

“The ⁠expectation is ⁠that this will ​continue until the ​situation in the Middle ‌East is resolved,” the agency’s finance chief Victor ⁠Vial said at a meeting, noting that since ⁠October ‌the canal ⁠had registered some ​300 ‌vessels crossings ​compared with ⁠the same period last fiscal year.

(Reporting by Elida Moreno, Editing by Natalia ​Siniawski)