PANAMA CITY, March 31, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - The war in the Middle East has prompted a surge in ships utilizing the Panama Canal, an executive for the interoceanic waterway said Monday.

The month-long conflict that began on February 28 has seen Iran effectively blockade the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil and gas exports normally transit.

"We had expected around 34 daily passages" for this year, but in the last two weeks "we've been having 38, 39, 40," the deputy administrator of the canal, Ilya Espino de Marotta, told the channel Telemetro in an interview.

Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, whose main users are the United States and China. The route primarily connects the east coast of the United States with the Asian giant, South Korea, and Japan.

"The Panama Canal is a safe, short route, that with gas prices" still reduces costs, Espino de Marotta said.

Nonetheless, the canal executive warned that the passage of 40 daily boats "isn't sustainable" given the limited space on the route.

She added that by April, the canal should see renewed growth in the number of boats carrying liquified natural gas (LNG), after a slump due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"We were going over 500 passages a year," but then it dropped away "because of the war in Ukraine and Russia, though it's now coming back," Espino de Marotta said.