Authorities decided to close 88 of the country's 122 ports on Sunday after the death of a sailor who was washed away by pounding waves while on patrol with the Navy in Puerto Pimentel, 780 kilometers north of the capital Lima.

"The marine fell off the boat and his lifeless body was found approximately one kilometer" offshore, the navy said, blaming "waves of strong intensity."

The ports are expected to remain closed until midweek when the South Pacific Anticyclone -- intense trade winds that originate off the coasts of Peru and northern Chile -- is forecast to pass.

The anticyclone is the latest weather phenomenon to affect business in South American ports in the last year.

Raging seas grounded vessels for days in several Chilean, Peruvian and Ecuadoran ports during storms in late 2024 and early 2025.

Climatologists linked those surges to an increase in ocean temperatures and levels caused by climate change.