Dry season hampers cargo movement in Rio Grande do Sul state ports

Port authority Portos RS released, on November 21, the throughput data between January and October 2022. The numbers refer to the performance of the ports of Rio Grande, Pelotas, and Porto Alegre, which are under the administration of the public company, as well as private terminals located in the industrial district of Rio Grande.

As expected, the four-year dry season in the Rio Grande do Sul state has grown more intense in 2022, hampering cargo movement in the state’s ports. Compared to last year, the throughput of the Port of Rio Grande shrank by 19.10%, while Pelotas saw an 11.34% decrease, and Port Alegre had a reduction of 24.30%.

General cargo movement in Rio Grande totaled 9,009,778 tonnes, solid bulk movement totaled 18,494,154 tonnes, and liquid bulk totaled 3,678,986 tonnes. Wheat saw the greatest increase in movement, increasing 252.62%, followed by wood chips, which increased by 13.01%; pulp, which increased by 7.75%; and soy bran, which increased by 6.75%. On the other hand, soybeans dropped by 60.59%.

Find below a chart comparing container exports and imports at the Port of Rio Grande between Jan 2019 and Sep 2022. The data is from DataLiner.

Container exports and imports – Rio Grande | Jan 2019 – Sep 2022 | TEUs

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

China remains the top export destination (31.38%), followed by Spain (4.89%), the United States (4.70%), Morocco (4.24%), Iran (4.16%), and Portugal (4.11%). Argentina (12.73%), China (10.16%), Canada (7.50%), Saudi Arabia (7.49%), the United States (6.10%), and Morocco (5.44%) are the top import origins.

Container throughput also decreased compared to the previous year due to the impact of the dry season. In 2022, 434,304 units were transported, of which 265,668 corresponded to full container loads and another 168,636 were empty containers. These figures are below the numbers for 2020 and 2021, when 556,356 and 549,297 containers were handled, respectively.

So far, the Port of Pelotas has received 1,057,796 tonnes, including 897,841 tonnes of wood logs, 147,776 tonnes of cement clinker, and 12,179 tonnes of soybeans. Despite being huge, these figures represent an 11.34% decrease from the same period last year.

The yearly total for 2022 in the Port of Porto Alegre is 687,428 tonnes, which is 24.30% less than what was moved in the same period last year. Also, 20,485 tonnes of wheat, 89,942 tonnes of barley, 453,604 tonnes of fertilizer, 36,062 tonnes of salt, and another 87,335 tonnes of general cargo were shipped in the first ten months of that year.

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