Ecuadornews:
The 0.9% drop in container traffic in ports in Latin America and the Caribbean, reported by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), was buffered by the growth of some ports, including the Guayaquil port.
The ECLAC reported last Tuesday that operations in ports in the region fell by 0.9% in 2016. According to the agency, this regional average maintains the negative slowdown trend observed in recent years and represents the largest loss since the crisis of 2009.
The deceleration in the regional average of the port movement in 2016 was mainly driven by declines in the activity in five countries: Brazil, Panama, Colombia, Argentina and the Bahamas, the latter with a drop of 14.3%.
These reductions were mitigated by increases observed in some countries that contributed to increases in total volume: Mexico (3.2% up), Chile (4.8%), Peru (8.4%), Ecuador , Dominican Republic (8.3%), Guatemala (8.8%), Costa Rica (7.3%) and Uruguay (9.5%).
Commercial activity increased by 6.9% in the port of Guayaquil. In a statement, the ECLAC notes that this is due to “the success of its projects and the commercial management.” Callao in Peru and Caucedo in the Dominican Republic also recorded a growth trend.
At the global level, in 2016 container traffic at ports also had a low dynamism. According to Alphaliner estimates, volumes in the world’s top 100 container ports rose only a 1.8% in 2016
