Navegação de cabotagem brasileira

Abstract

Brazil’s geography and its colonization process influenced the preponderance of coastal shipping as the main means of transporting cargo over long distances during most of its history. Only as of the second half of the XX century does cabotage lose its relative importance. Due to its economy and its importance in the world, besides the potential of its use in a continental country where 80% of its population dwells near the coast, it was not be expected that nowadays it is so little employed in Brazil. This article, in addition to briefly discuss the history of cabotage in the country, comments on several aspects of the sector, such as the fleet profile and existing companies, the main cargoes and ports involved, the existing challenges and regulatory issues.