Caribbean Port Activity remained Sluggish in 2012 - ECLAC Report

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says the container throughput in Latin American and Caribbean ports remained sluggish in 2012, confirming the slowdown in the region's foreign trade over the past year.

ECLAC on Wednesday attributed this to the recession in Europe and slower growth in the United States and China.

According to the ranking of container port throughput in Latin America and the Caribbean, published by ECLAC’s Maritime Profile, in 2010 the container port throughput in maritime terminals grew by 15.9 percent, which fell to 13.9 percent in 2011 and 4.3 percent in 2012.

ECLAC said the ranking, which it complied directly in conjunction with port authorities, shows the breakdown of 2012 throughput in the region's 80 main ports.

It said Latin America and the Caribbean's main container ports posted growth of 7.4 percent in the first half of 2012, “but experienced a dramatic slowdown in the second half of the year, with growth of just 0.4 percent.”

ECLAC said the fall in port activity in 2012 was concentrated in five countries: Argentina and Jamaica, with annual reductions of -10.5 percent and -35.1 percent, respectively; and Chile, Panama and Brazil, which recorded low annual growth of 1.2 percent, 3.4 percent and 3.6 percent, with a reduction in the second half of the year of -2.2 percent, -2.6 percent and -1.2 percent in each case.

In contrast, ECLAC said other countries in the region “appear immune to the port slowdown and maintained high growth rates despite the global recession.”

This applied to Peru (9.9 percent), Colombia (18.2 percent), Mexico (13.9 percent), Costa Rica (15.0 percent), Venezuela (17.6 percent) and the Dominican Republic (18.4 percent).

In the Caribbean, the ports of Caucedo in the Dominican Republic and Freeport in the Bahamas are the only ones to maintain positive results in their category , “which makes a contribution to the subregion's growth,” ECLAC said. (CMC)

Details

Date Posted

June 20 2013