The anchorage of the shipping companies

 

With pulverized freight rates and a world trade in reverse, the shipping industry is experiencing one of its worst crises. This crisis docks in Guayaquil ports, where more than 90% of the business of containerized cargo in the country is based.

Neither mergers or joint services that began in the last five years have stopped the frenzy of lower prices for freight, which reached $ 50 from Shanghai (China); less than what it would cost to move a container from southern to central Guayaquil. The companies had ordered years ago larger boats, due to the reshuffling of the industry at that time, and now they are paying those bills.

“Cost optimization led them to that way,” tells Emilio Aguiar, of Tecnisea, to Daily Expreso. Companies that ordered ships of high loading capacity did not optimize their spaces because the trade did not grow in the same volume. Many of those orders were postponed.

China, the second largest exporter after the US world reduced its sales by 1.8% in 2015 and South Korea by -5.1%. there are no good projections in 2016. The World Trade Organization cut its trade growth projections: 1.7% versus 2.8% estimated in April, which is the slowest pace of expansion since 2009.