International container transport with Brazil should grow less than expected this year, due to the slowdown in consumption and the instability generated by events such as strikes. The conclusion is from Maersk Line, the largest shipowner in the world, which revised downwards the sector's growth in Brazil in 2014: from 5% to 6% originals to 4%.
“Our customers are indicating that consumption is below expectations. There is a feeling that things are not going well”, said Mario Veraldo, head of sales at Maersk Line Brasil, including a possible energy rationing in the list of concerns.
The cooling in demand, a movement that surprised the sector in the year of the World Cup in Brazil, made the maritime industry suspend a capacity increase for the second half. Nine long-haul carriers, including Maersk Line, will no longer add additional capacity to a shared service in traffic between Asia and Brazil, one of the busiest in Brazilian foreign trade.
Traditionally, the route receives a 20% increase in space for containers in the second half of the year due to the peak in shipments. According to Veraldo, this year is atypical and the peak volumes seem to have been scattered throughout the year. “There should be some increase in volume in the second half of the year, but that will be covered by the idle capacity that exists on the ships today.”
In the first quarter of the year, the flow of Brazilian foreign trade in containers by sea grew 4,1% over the same period of 2013, aftermath of the growth curve at the end of 2013 and which lost strength in the rest of the semester.
Maersk Line recently completed a US$2,2 billion investment in 16 vessels ordered for trades involving Brazil. The world's largest container carrier, the company accounts for 15% of container shipping in Latin America.
For some months now, the company has been preparing to minimize impacts due to the stoppages of operations during Brazil's World Cup games. National ports will suspend activities for two hours during each national team game. “We've already organized ourselves in terms of managing our operations,” said Peter Gyde, general director of Maersk Line in Brazil, in a company report.
Source: Valor Econômico
By Fernanda Pires | of Santos
