São Paulo — The Brazilian integrated logistics company Aliança, owned by the Danish group A.P. Moller - Maersk, expects to break a new cabotage shipping record with the transportation of domestic cargo destined for Black Friday promotions. According to Marcus Voloch, general director of Aliança, the company has prepared to move a huge amount of cargo this year and believes that this Black Friday will mark the beginning of a new digital era in the country.
Last year, Aliança had already registered a cabotage record when the ship Sebastião Cabato left the port of the Manaus Free Trade Zone carrying about 23 thousand tons of domestic cargo. This year, the Monte Sarmiento, the largest container ship in operation in Brazil, joined the Black Friday task force.
Last year, Aliança had already registered a cabotage record when the ship Sebastião Cabato left the port of the Manaus Free Trade Zone carrying about 23 thousand tons of domestic cargo. This year, the Monte Sarmiento, the largest container ship in operation in Brazil, joined the Black Friday task force.
“We expect this year’s operations to exceed even last year’s, as more and more small and medium-sized companies put their business operations online and more and more Brazilians are looking to find a bargain on Black Friday, even before the physical stores open their doors. And, as always, we are ready to do our part,” Voloch said in a statement.
With physical stores closed due to the new coronavirus pandemic, online sales reached an all-time high last year. According to the Alliance, on Black Friday and the day before, online shopping increased 24.8% in the country, bringing the total value of sales made over the Internet to more than R$4 billion, with R$3.1 billion on Friday alone.
“It’s common knowledge that the e-commerce sector had been growing consistently before the pandemic, but by 2020 it reached levels we didn’t expect to reach in the next five years. We know, for example, that more than 7 million Brazilians made their first online purchase last year. Do we really expect them to simply go back to their previous ways? What we can safely say is that the era of digital shopping in Brazil is here to stay,” said Aliança’s CEO.
Routes
Thousands of containers are loaded onto the company’s transport ships in Manaus (AM) and shipped throughout the country. The ships leave the Amazon capital and make a connection at the Port of Pecém (CE), and then leave for the Port of Santos (SP). Part of the cargo stays in Pecém, to meet the demands of the Northeast, and the rest goes to São Paulo. Santos also serves as a distribution center for the South region. The ship can also go down to the Port of Itapoá (SC) to distribute the loads.
According to Aliança, the volume of electronic products shipped from Manaus in the fourth quarter of last year totaled more than 4,000 containers shipped, compared to 1,750 two years earlier.
The ships allow wholesalers and retailers to move a large volume and still save on gains of scale, according to the company. “As a result, Brazilian retailers can offer greater discounts to consumers on Black Friday. In other words, without cabotage, the promotions here would not be as attractive,” says Aliança.
In Brazil, a country of continental dimensions without the road and rail networks of the USA, it would be impossible to work with such a large volume of cargo in such a short period of time using only land transportation, considers the Danish group company.
Black Friday, next November 26, marks the beginning of the year-end shopping season with aggressive promotions, becoming an important date for retail results, especially for e-commerce, in the last quarter of the year.
