It has been a poor year so far in the North America-East Coast South America container trade, but demand and freight rates have picked-up of late.
Latin America has the lowest port throughput growth forecast for this year among the eight regions in Drewry’s latest Container Forecaster report, with total port handling expected to rise by less than 1%. Fears that Argentina’s austerity plans will not be enough to stem its economic crisis and sharp falls in the value of both the Argentinean and Brazilian currencies are unsettling factors, while truckers’ strike action in Brazil have also affected port throughput.
The malaise is demonstrated in first-half two-way container flows between North America and East Coast South America, which were broadly flat compared to the same period last year. Most of the damage was done in the headhaul ECSA to North America northbound trade, where the decline essentially wiped off the gains from the southbound leg.
