A severe drought in Panama is causing issues for the global supply chain. Low water levels at the Panama Canal, which relies on fresh water from lakes, means bigger, heavier ships can’t get through, creating a bottleneck. Gretchen Blough, a customs broker for Logistics Plus in Erie, Pennsylvania, said she’s working hard to reroute goods so they get to their destinations on time. 

“We’ve seen the trend lately where the cargo ships just keep getting bigger and bigger to carry more containers,” Blough said. “Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to the efficiency of getting goods from here to there when you have a situation like the Panama Canal. … So, yeah, quite the challenge.”

To hear more from Blough about how drought is affecting the customs business, click the audio player above.