Which are the best brazilian ports?

 An interesting study of Exame magazine, that can be accessed at this link, has produced a ranking of the Best Brazilian ports. By this study, we can see that the main ports in Brazil are still located in the southern and southeastern axis: Santos (in São Paulo), Rio de Janeiro (in the city of same name), Paranaguá (in Paraná), Itajaí (in Santa Catarina), Vitória (in Espírito Santo) and Rio Grande (in Rio Grande do Sul).

The port of Santos remains the most important port in Brazil, accounting for almost 30% of the national movement of goods. Manaus (in Amazonas) has the benefit of being located near a special economic area, but is set up far from the economic center of the country. One breakthrough is the port of Itaguaí (Rio de Janeiro) that, despite the lower flow of goods, has the greatest growth potential in Brazil.

In recent years, however, the ports of the Northeast began to grow and receive large investments. They are also favored by the greater proximity to export markets such as Europe and the United States. Ports like Suape (Pernambuco) and Pecém (Ceará) moved a large amount of cargo in recent years, besides having a high growth potential. The port of Suape, for example, contains a multimodality of transport via road and rail, and a deepwater port with networks of water supply, electricity, telecommunications and natural gas installed throughout the complex.

The only flaw of the publication of the Exam magazine, from our point of view, is that it does not address the differences between the Brazilian ports regarding bureaucracy and administrative delays. In my legal practice over the years, I realized that one of the biggest problems of Brazilian ports is the large bureaucracy, the huge number of forms and the delays on the procedures. A study that indicates which Brazilian ports possess less bureaucracy would be highly welcomed by both entrepreneurs as lawyers who work with foreign investment and international trade.