Perspective of a new national port geography: advances, retreats and permanence of the national port sector after 2000’s

Perspectiva de una nueva geografía portuaria nacional: avances, retrocesos y permanencias del sector portuario nacional desde la década del 2000

Abstract

Ports are geographical phenomena that materialize the interrelationships of producer and consumer spaces. In the current stage of capitalism, they become central elements, accounting for over 90% of international trade. In Brazil, the sector is characterized by a cyclical process of higher/lower investment. However, the period marked by radical changes in the sector at a world level occurs together with changes in the international financing policy and in the State’s indebtedness. New leaders start to command the country, imposing cost-cutting policies. Ports become strangulation nodes that only began to be faced after the 2000s, with state funding, public-private partnerships and new legislation. Although they need to mature, the initial results cast perspective for a new port map. Thus, we aim to investigate this new spatial dynamic, its genesis, process and perspective. We considered bibliographical references on the subject in international and national context, as well as data from official bodies.

Keyword:
Ports; Navigation; Economic development; Brazil