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The first four months of 2022 showed a drop in the movements of ports in Brazil, due to the Lockdown in China
The flow in the ports, for freight, in Brazil fell by 3% between the months of January and April 2022 when compared to the same period in 2021. The scarcity of movement in the ports of Brazil is a consequence of the lockdown measures adopted by the China, since the beginning of March.
This information is from the most current survey by Antaq (National Waterway Transport Agency), of the federal government.
Also according to this information, imports of products by sea freight cataloged a drop of 7,92%, while exports decreased by approximately 3% in Brazil.
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Still in Brazil, cabotage, which constitutes navigation on the coast, also recorded a drop. With regard to the year 2021, this transport service showed a decrease of 2,5%.
Although there has been a drop in the handling of ports in Brazil, the volume of cargo handled increased by 26% in the same period. In all, more than 23 million tons were loaded by sea between January and April 2022. General cargo is a maritime modality that differs from containers.
The transport of this block is usually done by bags, boxes, bales, drums and crates and no effect of the lockdown in China was observed. Contrary to what happened in the ports of Brazil, the category was benefited by the stoppage in the ports of China and also by the growth in the value of containers, which had an increase due to the lockdown.
Freight costs are one of the problems caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in China
One of the current difficulties faced by the Brazil, motivated by the outbreak of the virus in China, is the increase in the cost of freighting cargo ships in the country, both those that want to dock in Brazilian ports, and those that have Chinese ports as their final destination.
According to Jesualdo Silva, president of ABTP, the Brazilian Association of Terminals, the stoppage of cargo ships in China led to a shortage of global supply, consequently generating an increase in freight prices.
However, despite the restrictions imposed by the lockdown in China, with a focus on containing the spread of Covid-19 in the country, the ports of China had an increase of 1,7% in the volumes of containers handled in the period from January to April 2022, according to the Centronave National Center for Transatlantic Navigation.
Cargo handling at Chinese ports increased in May
In the month of May, until the 24th, cargo handling in the main portos of the Asian country grew around 4,2% in relation to the same period of April. Centronave informs, however, that the increase was smaller than expected.
In the city of Shanghai, the lockdown was sealed on the first day of June, after two months. The port continued to operate with reduced capacity and some operations were redirected or advanced.
Even with a forecast for the return of container movements in the coming weeks, Centronave still assumes that it is too early to predict the 100% normalization of the logistics chain in China and the global production and supply chains in the coming months.
“Although the Chinese economy suffered from the lockdown, there was no full closure in some productive areas of the country. The positive result could be greater, but we need to take into account that part of the country's factories are outside the urban area, where the measures were stricter. The main ports in China were closed, but other alternatives continued to operate”, explained Coordinator of the MBA in Financial Management at FGV, Ricardo Teixeira.
