RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Esteban Dos Santos, president of the Paraguay River and Maritime Shipowners’ Center (CAFyM), said that the delays in the port of Shanghai due to the confinement of its population because of a resurgence of Covid-19 would have a significant impact on the Paraguayan economy since 30% of Paraguay’s imports come from China.
Dos Santos said that as a consequence of what is happening in Shanghai, the freight rates worldwide already register an increase because the total paralyzation of the port makes the vessels remain detained for many hours and added that “if this continues these days, there will be a normal regulation in the freight values in a matter of a few weeks”.
Last year the freight rate shot up, he recalled, and from the US$2,000 that it cost to bring a container from Shanghai to Asunción before the pandemic, it went to US$14,000, and this could happen again since “to this is added the increase in the price of fuel, due to the uncertainty with the war in Russia”.
