ECLAC reports drop in last year's port activities in L. America

The economic crisis in 2009 caused a reduction in activities at the main Latin American ports, according to a report published Thursday by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

The port activity of containers registered by the Infrastructure Services Unit at the 20 main ports of the region dropped 6.8 percent in 2009 compared with 2008, the ECLAC said.

In some cases, the decline even surpassed 30 percent.

Santos Port in Brazil continues to be the most active Latin American port with 2.25 million TEU in 2009 (unit equivalent to a container of 20 feet, a little more than 6 meters), which represented a reduction of 15.7 percent from the previous year.

The second and third places were taken by Panama's Colon Port with 2.21 million TEU and Balboa Port with 2 million TEU, respectively. Both registered reductions compared with 2008.

Among all the ports analyzed, only five registered an increase compared with 2008.

Source: Xinhua