The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has already published its annual ranking of the 20 leading ports of the Latin American region, where the Port of Santos got the first place, followed by Colón and Balboa, both located in Panama.
According to the list, that takes into consideration 120 ports of the region, the c ontainerized cargo movement grew up 1.7% compared to last year. Santos moved about three and a half million TEU’s, which represents 600,000 TEU’s more than last year. The Panamanian port of Colón increased by 300.000 TEU’s, followed by Balboa. Even though it exceed the three million TEU’s, it was not enough to keep last year’s first place.
Colombia was one of the six countries where a two-digit rise was registered (13.1%) together with Nicaragua (24.4%), Barbados (10.3), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (11.3%), Monserrat (11.7%) and Anguilla (27.7%).
In South America, Ecuador, Peru and Argentina reached one of the top 10, while in the North of the continent, only Mexico made it to this category, getting the fifth place.
In the Caribbean, the Port of Kingston (Jamaica) and Freeport (Bahamas) were notable. They were also included between the first ten ports of 2014.
CEPAL also highlighted the negative effect on the drop of the commercial activities in Brazil, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago and Venezuela on the region’s economic growth. However, the report emphasizes Ecuador’s growth (6.3%) and Buenaventura in Colombia (6.6%).
In terms of container traffic and volume, 2015 experienced low economic growth, about 1.1% according to Alphaliner . Some of the possible causes are the increase in manufactured goods vs. raw material transported in containers, a reduction in the size of manufactured products, the stabilization of bulk cargo conversion to containerized cargo, among others.
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