Since then, the situation began to worsen for imports from Asia, since the indicator of this company began to reflect higher figures until it reached 15,000 dollars per container in October 2021 and, from that peak, various fluctuations that placed the rate at $3,700 in September 2022. And to this situation we must add the influence of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The importance of the data lies in the fact that, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), more than 80% of merchandise worldwide is transported by sea. In this way, the drop in maritime freight rates could translate into a stabilization of the supply chain for 2023, says Carlos Martner Peyrelongue, coordinator of Integrated Transport and Logistics of the Mexican Institute of Transport (IMT).
The researcher expects that, for the next year, the demand for maritime transport services will decrease, derived from inflation, which in the country, according to the Bank of Mexico, will be located at 8.6% at the end of 2022, and the signs of economic recession presented by the United States and China. This will also reduce delays in getting space on ships and transport equipment such as containers, trains and trucks.
From the global to the local
Despite the fact that the global supply chain begins to see the light at the end of the tunnel, covid-19 has shown that it can break at any time and that is where nearshoring remains valid. This was one of the topics at the XXVI Annual Congress of Shipping Agents, recently organized by the Mexican Association of Shipping Agents (AMANAC), an organization that brings together 120 shipping agencies, which represent 93% of the ships that mobilize 95% of the cargo in Mexican ports.
For Martner Peyrelongue, it is still early to see the effects of nearshoring in Mexico, but the phenomenon has already started and its first fruits will be seen in the medium term; although he maintains that a good indicator lies in foreign direct investment (FDI) which, based on data from the Ministry of Economy (SE), concluded the first half of this year with 27,000 million dollars, an increase of 49.2% year-on-year.
According to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Mexico has the potential to add 35,300 million dollars annually in earnings in its exports of goods, derived from nearshoring, this is almost half of the 78,000 million dollars estimated for Latin America. However, specialists in the sector believe that the country could miss out on the opportunity if it does not face old problems that concern, mainly, the government.
Norma Becerra Pocoroba, president of AMANAC, believes that trade facilitation should be accelerated in the country through better communication between the public and private sectors, assuming commitments from all the actors in the logistics chain, from shipping companies and ports to customs and customs agents, cargo agents, rail transport and auto transport, in order to increase foreign trade.
However, there are internal obstacles. Ramón Medrano Ibarra, president of the National Chamber of Cargo Transport (Canacar), believes that one of the main challenges to attract investment and make road transport more efficient lies in the high levels of insecurity that this activity presents.
To this must be added, he adds, challenges such as the shortage of 54,000 truck operators, overregulation of the activity in states and municipalities, the absence of the rule of law in the constant seizure of booths and the lack of safe rest stops on the highways. of the operators, among others.
Leonardo Gómez Vargas, executive president of the National Association of Private Transport (ANTP), believes that the human factor is the most important thing in the logistics chain, so the government and highway concessionaires must guarantee the installation of safe stops, since that around 60% of the cargo in Mexico is moved by road transport. For it to be a more efficient sector, it must have decent conditions for operators in the face of constant merchandise theft.
Data from the consulting firm Sensitech, which evaluates highway robberies, places Mexico at a “severe” risk regarding the theft of merchandise, since only in 2021 19,876 events were registered, 96% of them violent. The Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System reports that the criminal incidence in the transport of cargo of the common and federal jurisdictions totaled 7,416 incidents from January to July of this year, which meant an increase of 2.2% based on 2021. .