The Southern Atlantic Sea Route

The Southern Atlantic Sea Route is a major shipping corridor across the Atlantic Ocean, but it carries far less traffic than its northern counterpart. Its importance lies in linking the eastern coast of South America with western and southern Africa, and through them, with Western Europe.

This route connects the industrialised nations of Western Europe and the resource-rich countries of West Africa with the South American nations of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. The key ports on the South American side are in southeastern Brazil and around the Río de la Plata estuary (which serves Buenos Aires and Montevideo). On the African side, the route touches ports in South Africa and along the West African coast.

Traffic on the Southern Atlantic Sea Route is significantly lower than on the North Atlantic route. The textbook gives two clear reasons for this:

• Limited development and population in both South America and Africa. Neither continent has the dense concentration of industrial economies and large populations that drive the heavy traffic of the North Atlantic.
• Similar products and resources on both sides of the southern Atlantic. Because Brazil and South Africa, for example, both export minerals, agricultural goods, and raw materials, there is little incentive for ships to carry cargo between them. The route between Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town sees especially little traffic for this reason. …