Drought affects waterway and may generate more queues of trucks in Santos

Source: Valor Econômico

At a time when occasional occurrences of queues of trucks destined for the port of Santos (SP) are once again causing problems on São Paulo highways, an additional problem could cause more congestion. The drought that lasted almost a month reduced the transport capacity of the Tietê-Paraná Waterway by about a third, which is already forcing some companies to migrate their cargo to trailers.

The 18 convoys currently in operation on the waterway are operating, each with up to 4 tons. Under normal conditions, they can carry 6 thousand tons. It is estimated that the reduction in navigability on Tietê-Paraná will transfer 126 thousand tons per month to the highways, or 3,6 thousand bit-train trucks. That's 120 trucks more per day.

According to the Waterway Department of the State of São Paulo, the rains of the last few days were not enough to improve the situation. “On the contrary, the level of the reservoirs of the Ilha Solteira and Três Irmãos plants decreased today [yesterday]. And the schedule is that by Friday it reaches an emptying quota that compromises the waterway”, said the director of the Department, Casemiro Carvalho.

For him, it is necessary to share the burden with the federal government. “I have a problem with the waterway due to generation”. When contacted to comment on the problem, the Ministry of Mines and Energy did not return until the close of this edition. The Secretariat of Ports (SEP) said it is committed to building a solution with regulatory agencies for land and water transport (ANTT and Antaq) and the Ministry of Transport to minimize the impacts of excess trucks.

Agribusiness is the main user of Tietê-Paraná, occupying 12 of the 18 trains available. Companies combine waterway and rail transport to access the port of Santos, where 30% of soy and 50% of national corn is exported. The barges are loaded in São Simão (GO) and sail to Pederneiras (SP), on a journey of almost 650 kilometers. From there, the cargo is placed on the railroad that arrives in Santos. In order not to miss the ship, cargo owners have to resort at the last minute to road freight in the spot market, which is generally more expensive.

Last week, Caramuru Alimentos, the largest user of the waterway, felt the problem firsthand. The company was forced to transfer part of the soybeans scheduled to use the intermodal system to trucks. As a result, some of its trucks arrived at the docks of Santos without prior appointment – ​​a requirement of the federal government -, congesting a section of the port.

Around 80% of Caramuru's exports are carried out through the intermodal system. The company said it had invested more than R$ 100 million over the last few years to complete this transport project. Yesterday, trucks destined for the port again blocked the entrance to cities in Baixada Santista in the morning. There were 30 kilometers of traffic jams if you add all the stretches with problems on the highways that connect São Paulo to the coast.

According to the Companhia Docas do Estado de São Paulo (Codesp), there was an excess of trucks. But, according to Ecovias, road concessionaire, the volume that descended Serra do Mar until noon yesterday was within the expected range for the period. Codesp also said that some terminals did not comply with the previous scheduling and that others called the trailers before the date.

The government is still closing the data to issue notices of infraction against companies. They may result in fines ranging from R$ 1 to R$ 20 per vehicle, as provided for in the Antaq resolution. Until then, the SEP said it will not disclose the names of the terminals or the number of trailers that broke the rules.