Brazil uses less than half of its navigable waterways, says Antaq

Brazil currently uses 48% of its economically navigable waterway network. There are 41,700 kilometers of navigable waterways, and 20,100 kilometers are used for cargo and passenger transport, according to data from the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq).

Considering the importance of decarbonization and the emission reduction potential of waterways, Antaq states that it promotes various actions to encourage the use of this mode of transport.
“Waterways are four to five times less polluting than road transport and emit 1.5 times less carbon than railways. In addition, they have lower implementation and operating costs compared to road and rail transport, reduce the percentage of fatal accidents, and decrease the number of cargo thefts and losses,” explains the agency.

Plan
In 2023, Antaq, together with the Ministry of Ports and Airports (MPor), launched the Waterway General Grant Plan (PGO), which aims to significantly expand the economically navigable waterway network and enhance the infrastructure of existing waterways.

Additionally, the PGO classified six priority waterway projects, including the Paraguay River Waterway, which was the topic of a debate promoted by the Federal Council of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), MPor, and the Brazilian Association for the Development of Inland Navigation (Abani) last Wednesday.

The event was attended by director Alber Vasconcelos, rapporteur of the Paraguay River Waterway concession project. On this occasion, he also spoke about the importance of waterways in helping to achieve environmental decarbonization targets and the potential benefits of diversifying transportation modes to increase logistics chain efficiency.

Source: A Tribuna

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