MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Freight costs between Santos and Shanghai skyrocket 400% in two years

Factors increasing freight costs: higher bunker (marine fuel) prices, shortage of containers, and increased demand for cargo containers due to the rise in e-commerce.

Sea freight cost between Santos, Brazil and Shanghai, China have risen 400% in two years. The hike was one of the main consequences of the covid-19 pandemic on Brazilian logistics, according to a study by a task force of the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq) released last week

According to the agency’s director and task force coordinator, Flávia Takafashi, the leap took place between 2019 and December last year from US$ 2 thousand (R$ 10,326.00) to US$ 10 thousand (R$ 51,630.00) due to logistical bottlenecks, mainly the lack of containers in the world.

“We wanted to know what the repercussions were on the planet as a whole because we’re dealing with an international issue, not only due to the pandemic but also because the activity is part of a thoroughly connected logistical chain,” Flávia adds. She cites statistics, publications, worldwide research sources, and interviews with marine logistics agents as sources for her work.

Antaq’s group found that the following factors increased freight costs: the increase in bunker (marine fuel) prices, the shortage of containers, and the increased demand for cargo containers due to the rise in e-commerce.

However, in the case of the ports of Santos and Shanghai, freight dropped to US$ 7 thousand (R$ 36.1 thousand) in April this year. The scenario is different, for example, from the lack of containers, which will last in the medium term, according to Flávia. Antaq asks users to report any irregularities in ship stopovers to the agency’s ombudsman.