Cabotage in Brazil: Analysis of the current modal scenario

A National Waterway Transport Agency (Antaq) data for the year 2022 has just been closed, and cabotage had a drop of almost 2% in transported volume, which reached 203 million tons. The main factor for this small reduction was the drop in the movement of oil from Brazilian platforms to the coastal region, a volume that represents 60% of the cargo transported by cabotage in Brazil.

Despite the slight reduction, cabotage as a whole continues to grow in Brazil, at an annual rate of 6% over the last 5 years. Even in the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, the modal had strong growth, of 14,2%, driven essentially by the increase in oil production in Brazil in the period.

Figure 1 – Volume of cargo transported by cabotage in Brazil (MM ton) – Source: Antaq

In container cabotage, the scenario was similar to the general one, also with a drop of 2% compared to 2021, with a volume of 18,1 million tons transported in 2022. In the analysis of the last 5 years, however, the performance of the Container transport has been superior, with growth of 8% per year since 2018.

Due to the greater industrial and agricultural production in the South and Southeast of Brazil, a tendency for cabotage in the country is for the largest volumes to depart from ports in these regions. In fact, 64% of cargo transported by container cabotage in 2022 departed from a port in the South or Southeast region, with more than half of it (56%) going to a port in the North or Northeast regions.

As a result, of the 10 largest container cabotage routes by volume, 9 originate from a port in the South/Southeast, with 5 going to the North/Northeast. However, the main cabotage route in Brazil in 2022, in terms of volume, originated in Amazonas and was destined for São Paulo, with 1,3 million tons transported. It's not for less. The capital Manaus is only accessible by ferry, plane or cabotage ship, with the latter being more advantageous for transporting production from the Free Zone to the South/Southeast of Brazil.

Finally, in the case of containers, an important analysis to be carried out is the relationship between the cargo that actually has its origin and destination in Brazilian ports (which we will call national cargo cabotage) and that which comes from abroad, lands in a Brazilian port and then proceeds by ship to another Brazilian port or that takes the opposite route (considered feeder cargo). Well, in Brazil, in the last 4 years, feeder cargo has represented just over 23% of the volume handled in container cabotage.

Figure 2 – National Cargo Cabotage x Feeder ratio in container transport – Source: Antaq

Some of this data you can also follow in the our dashboard of logistics indicators. There, you will find the cabotage tab, which brings the main modal numbers provided by Antaq. In addition to them, you can also access road and rail data. This panel is still under construction, that is, soon, we will have news!

References:

- antaq