Tariff announcements from the United States triggered sharp swings in cargo flows through Cartagena, but did not reshape them permanently, Giovanni Benedetti of Grupo Puerto de Cartagena (GPC) told TOC Americas.
Asked whether tariffs imposed, lifted and reimposed by Washington this year had produced any real change in cargo flows through Cartagena, or amounted to more noise than impact, Benedetti said the effect was real, if short-lived.
Benedetti said the port’s broader approach to such disruption was to set clear priorities and share information as problems emerge. “The most important thing is knowing how to establish those priorities,” he said, adding that visibility and transparency help solve problems proactively, involving every player across the port’s operations.
“There were changes, but very intermittent changes,” he said.
Cartagena handles large volumes of transhipment cargo from Brazil, Benedetti said, and when Washington began announcing tariffs on Brazilian goods the swings were felt instantly as shippers sought to move cargoes before the introduction of tariffs.
“First we saw a very large inflow, it was like a lot of people trying to buy their inventories in advance. Then a very sharp drop, then the start-up again,” he said.
A similar pattern followed a tariff Ecuador placed on Colombian goods, Benedetti said. “We saw how exports to Ecuador were cut off for a short time.”
“But what's been interesting is that just as quickly as it stopped, it quickly came back. There hasn't been a permanent trend, but there have been big ups and downs, over and over,” he said.
The volatility created by such swings has also shaped how GPC prepares its people for an uncertain future, according to Karina Kure of GPC and Delta X. The pandemic, she said, “changed the way we are, learn, exist, relate and work.”
“The positive side is that we are more resilient, more aware of our vulnerability, but also better prepared for the future,” Kure said.
For Benedetti, the speed of the reaction to tariff news is the most striking part of the past year, more than the direction of the swings themselves.
“It's incredible that a single word generates reactions in trade flows so quickly and so significantly,” he said.