The deceleration in Latin America and the Caribbean's foreign trade continued affecting port activity by the end of 2013, a year in which growth was just 1.7%, according to data released today by ECLAC.

In the latest edition of its port movement ranking, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) indicates that this figure confirms the decline in activity in the ports of several countries in the region. In 2010 and 2011 the annual expansion reached 14%, and in 2012 it notched 5.9%.

The container movement ranking shows the details of this kind of cargo activity in 80 of the region's terminals, where operations in 2013 reached 46.6 million TEUs (the standard unit of measurement, equivalent to containers of twenty feet, or 6.25 meters). The study relies upon information compiled by ECLAC directly from local and national port authorities.

The first 30 ports in the ranking, with activity levels ranging from 500,000 to 3,000,000 TEUs, account for about 82% of container operations in the region.

The slowdown in activity compared with previous years was determined mainly by the ports located in five countries of the Caribbean basin: Colombia, with a 6.9% annual drop, Jamaica (-8.2%), Venezuela (-8.2%), Panama (-4.1%) and the Dominican Republic (-21.7%).

In contrast, the terminals of five South American countries and one Central American nation maintained their growth levels, despite the global context of deceleration. This was the case in Argentina, with a 9.8% increase versus 2012, Brazil (6.2%), Uruguay (9.7%), Chile (6%), Ecuador (3.9%) and Costa Rica (37.5%).

According to ECLAC's analysis, port performance in 2013 was very heterogeneous and there were important differences among terminals within countries. For example, the Chilean ports of Angamos, Arica, Coronel and San Antonio registered positive growth due to the success of their projects and commercial management.

The ports of Freeport (Bahamas) and Havana (Cuba) are the only container terminals in the Caribbean region that showed increases, while in Brazil the ports with the biggest expansions were Itapoá (72.1%) and Chibatão (32.6%).

The regional port that grew the most in 2013 was Caldera, in Costa Rica, with a rise in cargo movement that topped 246%. It was followed by Coronel in Chile (135%), and Itapoá in Brazil.

The sharpest declines were registered by the terminals of Puerto Plata and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic (dropping 83.2% and 58.5%, respectively), and São Francisco do Sul in Brazil (-37.2%).