Archive | www.aapa-ports.org |
November 11, 2013 |
Cargo Trends: Latin America/Caribbean
Print this Article | Send to Colleague
Sluggish exports and slower growth prospects for the world economy carried over from late 2012 accentuated the slowdown in port activity in Latin America and Caribbean during the first half of 2013, according to ECLAC – the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
ECLAC: Latin America/Caribbean Port Activity Down Due to Sluggish Exports
Sluggish exports and slower growth prospects for the world economy carried over from late 2012 accentuated the slowdown in port activity in Latin America and Caribbean during the first half of 2013, according to ECLAC – the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
ECLAC, an agency of UNCTAD – the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development – is based in Santiago de Chile.
ECLAC’s ranking of port container traffic throughput measured in TEUs indicates that growth in freight operations in the region's ports grew by just 2 percent, far less than the 16 percent and 9 percent growth rates for the comparable periods, respectively, of 2011 and 2012. In fact, it was the region’s weakest first half performance since 2009.
The ranking includes official information provided by the port and transport authorities of the region's countries.
According to ECLAC, the difficult situation of the world economy, which is mainly attributable to the slowdown in the largest Asian economies, continues to affect foreign trade volumes in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly in terms of container port operations.
The ECLAC port ranking shows that top 20 container ports in Latin America and the Caribbean – which account for 74 percent of regional throughput – posted practically zero growth in the first half of 2013 (-0.1 percent).
Among the few with double-digit gains were Manzanillo in Mexico ( 10 percent), San Antonio in Chile ( 10 percent), Buenos Aires in Argentina ( 11 percent) and Montevideo in Uruguay (28 percent). Exceptionally high growth occurred at the Chilean ports of Coronel ( 96 percent) and Arica ( 47 percent) and the Brazilian ports of Chibatão ( 45 percent) and Sepetiba ( 18 percent).
Countries with the highest container traffic growth rates were Uruguay ( 27.7 percent), Argentina ( 20.1 percent), El Salvador ( 19.6 percent) and Chile ( 11.6 percent). The greatest declines occurred in Guatemala (-10.2 percent), Venezuela (-17.6 percent) and Costa Rica (-22.6 percent).
|
Asociación Americana de Autoridades Portuarias
1201 Maryland Ave SW, Suite 860, Washington, D.C. 20024
E: info@aapa-ports.org
W: www.aapa-ports.org
