PANAMA CITY — A severe drought that began last year has forced authorities to slash ship crossings by 36% in the Panama Canal, one of the world’s most important trade routes.

The recent freeze across Texas and Louisiana disrupted scheduled exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas, temporarily tightening some supply of the heating and power-plant fuel.

Governors from several states have issued emergency proclamations waiving federal hours-of-service requirements for truckers carrying fuel, to prevent shortages in extreme weather.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware approved the sale of 23 terminal leases owned by Yellow Corp. to six bidders for an aggregate price of $82.89 million, documents show.

Global shipping giants Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk have struck a partnership deal to operate some of their ships as a joint fleet in the future, the companies announced Jan. 17.

The CEOs of two leading freight carriers said they expect Red Sea threats to disrupt shipping for weeks or months longer.

The global LNG tanker fleets appear to have stopped using the Red Sea and Suez Canal, as continued Houthi attacks on ships reroute flows of the power-station and heating fuel.

The U.S. launched a new strike against the Yemen-based Houthis on Jan. 16, hitting anti-ship missiles in the third assault on the Iranian-backed group in recent days, the U.S. military said.

Trucking’s lingering freight recession, combined with a steep decline in spot market rates for carriers over the last 18 months, is tightening capacity, according to FMCSA data and FTR Intel.

The attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels have rerouted most of the trade normally flowing through the crucial maritime artery for consumer goods and energy supplies.