Container surge and record tonnages for Brazil’s ports in 2010

The ANTAQ data includes foreign, cabotage and inland navigation cargo handled by the nation’s “organized ports” and private terminals. Brazil’s waterborne trade tonnage exceeds that of any other country in the Western Hemisphere except the US.

Double-digit gains from recession-impacted 2009 were posted by the nation’s import, export, and domestic ocean, and inland waterway trades. Growth in the cabotage sector is an encouraging sign for the national government’s effort to promote the use of the marine highway by domestic shippers as an alternative to rail and highway transport.

The top performer last year was solid bulk sector, which jumped 16% to an all-time high of 506m tonnes in response to strong global demand for iron ore, soybeans, sugar, alumina, managanese and other Brazilian resources and products.