In a recent article, Valor Econômico newspaper revealed that freight on routes linking Asia and Brazil are the most expensive in the world. Despite the obvious geographic factors that make our country not have the most privileged location in terms of ocean and hemisphere of the main global commercial transactions, several other variables influence this scenario.
Our recent economic crisis, for example, contributed greatly to this result. With less economic activity and consequently less movement in ports, shipowners have reduced both the number and size of ships on routes involving Brazil. With this movement, the fixed operating costs of operations now have a lower dilution base, and this increase has been passed on to customers.
In addition, old infrastructure problems were not solved, maintaining additional costs that do not exist in other parts of the world for port operations in the main terminals in the country. The lack of depth in the country's largest ports, such as the Santos estuary, for example, means that most ships cannot use their full capacity, further affecting the dilution of operating costs for shipowners.
In addition, there has been a large increase in fuel prices in the last year. Although this increase was global, the Asia-Brazil routes feel this effect much more due to the long average travel distances.
What can be concluded from this scenario is that we are paying dearly to negotiate with the main players of current global trade, but a large part of this cost can still be reduced through internal initiatives, mainly in terms of improving infrastructure and reviving the country's economy.
Reference:
http://www.valor.com.br/empresas/5380651/frete-asia-brasil-e-o-mais-caro-do-mundo
