New government and new perspectives for the transport area

The arrival of 2019 brings with it the expectation of new airs for the Transport sector. In the promises of the now president is the resumption of investments in transport infrastructure, which have been staggering and losing strength after registering, in 2010, the peak of the last 30 years. There is already a sign of attracting investments of up to R$ 7 billion with concessions for the private sector for railroads (operation of the southern section of the North-South route), 12 airports and 4 port terminals, all foreseen in the Partnerships and Investments Program (PPI) of the Temer government.

However, more is needed. Agribusiness is looking for a solution to expand the flow of its production through the ports of the North region, and the bets are on Ferrogrão, whose public notice for construction is scheduled for the second quarter of this year. Another project that needs to be unlocked is the West-East Integration Railroad (FIOL), whose works have already started in some stretches, but are far from finished. Finally, it is up to the new government to also proceed with the extensions of railway contracts, which may bring new investments to the sector, and speed up port concessions.

The positive side is that all these actions are on the radar of the new Minister of Infrastructure, with the promise that they will get off the ground as soon as possible. But, to support the long-awaited economic growth at rates of 5% per year, Brazil will also need greater integration between the different modes, in addition to encouraging the use of more efficient modes for long distances, such as cabotage and rail. After all, journeys of more than 2 km traveled by truck are inefficient and only bring losses to transporters, cargo shippers and society in general, which ends up paying more expensive prices and still suffers from road congestion.

And how to encourage the use of alternative modes to road? First, it is through an integrated transport policy, designed to take advantage of the best of each mode for the benefit of cargo shippers, transporters and the final consumer. This step was already taken last year, with the launch of National Transport Policy, which brings a notebook with strategies for all modes aimed precisely at this integration. These strategies, however, need to get off the ground to really bring benefits.

The second step to expand the use of alternative modes to road transport is to encourage multimodal transport, making the figure of the Multimodal Transport Operator (OTM) viable. Currently, fiscal and tax difficulties and excessive bureaucracy bring insecurity to logistics operators and cargo shippers, who end up choosing to use only one modal, invariably road. For multimodal transport to be used to its fullest, it is fundamental that it really be seen as a single transport activity and not a sum of the use of modals as is currently the case.

Finally, the government needs to be very careful when granting benefits or subsidies in the Transport sector. These benefits should be granted on top of an integrated transport planning and not to relieve one or another modal. They must happen in such a way that the government guarantees that there are no more distortions like those currently happening, in which a load can leave São Paulo and go to Belém by truck, instead of using cabotage transport.

References:

National Transport Policy