The Brazilian ocean freight oscillation: The experts’ explanation to the USA, Europe and China trade

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the variables that contribute to the oscillation of the international ocean freight of the Brazilian trade of containerized cargoes. The ocean freight from and to East Coast of United States, Northern Europe and China to Brazil was studied by a qualitative approach through in-depth interviews with a panel of seven experts in charge of pricing the international ocean freight in the largest international shipping companies operating in Brazil. After a first round with the experts, a table that tried to capture the causal relationship among variables and their influence in Brazilian ocean freight was developed. In a second round of interviews, the final table was submitted to the judgment of the experts. Considering the experts’ opinion on the trade routes studied, it was noticed that the relationship between supply and demand with ocean freight is the variable that influences freight rates in Brazil’s trade the most. Other variables such as vessels capacity, operating costs and competitors are among the variables that experts have identified as those that most contribute in Brazilian ocean freight oscillation.