Greg Howard of CaroTrans could be described as “chief ambassador” rather than global CEO when it comes to developing international business links. Howard’s long-term relationship with South America offers an insider’s view of one of the world’s fastest, (even in this recession) expanding markets. By George Lauriat, AJOTGreg Howard, Global-CEO (also chairman & CEO) for CaroTrans International, is very upbeat about the Latin American market, and he has good reason to be. Latin America is the second largest market for the New Jersey-NVO (non-vessel operating common carrier.) Howard, who has been working for CaroTrans for nearly three decades, has for years been making regular trips (generally four a year) to Latin America. The New Jersey-based NVO has been working in the Brazilian market for over two-decades, and Brazil and South America have become the company’s 2nd largest global market. Being a neutral NVO affords Howard a unique view of the economy. An NVO’s main customer is the local freight forwarder, and CaroTrans often partners with local NVOs for representation. The combination affords CaroTrans considerable economic insight into the local markets. “There’s real strength in Brazil’s economy…trade’s very robust,” Howard told the AJOT in a phone interview. “Brazil’s emerging middle class, the oil & gas sector…Brazil drives the South American market,” he said. Howard’s view of the South American market is a little different than most – a benefit of years traveling back and forth. He expresses the idea that just because we think a country or region is “emerging” or “developing” doesn’t exactly mean that they haven’t been there all along. Often these markets are “emerged” just not exactly the G-8 version. Howard observes that the Brazilian market has more “ambiguity” than say Chile, which is noted for being well educated, less corrupt and more given to a European style legal system, making it one of the easiest markets to enter. Brazil, on the other hand, has many trade restrictions. The country has an average import tariff of 10% that can be jacked to 35% without breaking WTO commitments. The semi-protectionist stance has trading partners worried. There has also been a shift in trade as China has supplanted the US and European nations as the main trade partner. Add on Brazil’s custom’s policies (and recent strikes by Brazil’s custom’s officers,) and the complications are clear. A tax on foreign autos resulted in a 21.6% drop in imports over the first two quarters. While imports represent a small share, the WTO is watching closely. Last year the Brazilian government made a number of changes to customs regulations and duties, and according to reports, quadrupled the number of investigators in the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. The result is that old compliance strategies went out the window. Add in bill of lading issues and fines, and you have a heckuva mess. Howard said that the adoption of this new regimen was at first a struggle, but now, as he says, it is “actually better as it’s taken some of the Mickey Mouse operators out [of the business].” Howard points out from a day-to-day business point of view, Brazil is in a similar time zone [to East Coast North America], multilingual and only a ten-hour flight away. It’s a great place to do business. You can hop on a plane and ten hours later be in Brazil ready for business (5:30 am landing if it all works well), which isn’t the case for Asia. It’s also an easier place to do phone follow ups as again the time zones are similar. The Brazilian market also makes a good jump off point for regional business. In July, CaroTrans expanded their partnership with Craft Multimodal in the East Coast of South America (ECSA) trade region. Craft Multimodal and CaroTrans have for over a decade had an exclusive LCL/FCL (Less Container Load/Full Container Load) business in Brazil. Craft has a 40% market share in the Brazil market, and the two companies are expanding the alliance to cover Argentina and Uruguay. Howard