Brazil’s Parana grain industry deliberates changing cargo route to Santos

Brazil’s Agriculture Federation of the Parana state (Feap) assesses that due to recurrent interdictions on the main road that leads to the Port of Paranagua, BR-277, a possible change in the route of the grains produced instate to the Port of Santos could generate an additional cost of BRL 602.7.

The cost of the additional expense in the event of this hypothetical change of route was calculated by Feap’s Technical and Economic Department, considering the freight costs on the Cascavel-Paranagua and Cascavel-Santos routes.

On the Cascavel-Santos stretch, a thousand kilometers longer, freight costs reach BRL 7.73 per bag, almost 60% more expensive. “We would already start with more complicated logistics with high losses to the productive sector due to the higher freight,” said the Faep/Senar-PR System president, Ágide Meneguette.

According to the federation, in recent months, on several occasions, the traffic flow on BR-277 has been totally or partially blocked due to falling traffic barriers, cracks in the pavement, and the risk of landslides. Based on this, in a scenario of total interruption at the BR-277, the only road that carries heavy cargo traffic to the Port of Paranaguá, grains would have to be transported to another port complex for export.

The soybean harvest in 2022/2023 is expected to be 21 million tonnes, according to the Department of Rural Economy of the Secretariat of Agriculture and Supply of Paraná. Based on historical averages, the state should export 15.7 million tons, with 12.6 million shipped by road and 3.1 million by rail. If all this volume stopped traveling to Paranaguá due to a total interdiction of BR-277, the loss would be R$ 602.7 million due to the extra freight cost to Santos.

“Several cooperatives and traders who, due to the poor road conditions, have chosen to send their cargo to other ports, such as São Francisco do Sul (SC) and Santos,” stated Meneguette.

Santos scenario

The Port of Santos saw a decrease in grain movement in the first two months of this year, compared to the same period last year, according to the Santos Port Authority (SPA).

“In February 2022, 3.74 million tonnes were shipped compared to 3.34 million tonnes in February 2023. Volumes were also lower in January this year compared to the same month in 2022. There were 657.4 thousand tons in January 2022 and 135.4 thousand this year. It should be noted that the increase in the volume of shipments in February compared to a month ago is explained by the start of the harvest on that month.”

Counterpoint

On the other hand, Portos do Paraná announced on Wednesday (15) that the ports of Paranaguá and Antonina, “despite the constant rainfall observed in recent days and the momentary stoppage of traffic on BR-277 last week,” recorded normal movement compared to the first two months last year with a 6% increase in exports.

“In February, the increase recorded in this segment of international trade was 2%. A comparison of throughput numbers also shows room for growth in the operation in the coming days,” informed the Port Authority of Paraná.

Brazil’s Portos do Paraná pointed out that an average of 1,200 trucks arriving at the park every day indicates normal operations. “In the first 14 days of March, 16,965 cargo vehicles were registered at the port, an average of 1,200 per day. In the same period last year, the number of truck carriers registered was 20,666. In these 14 days, 1.8 million tonnes were handled in Paranaguá and Antonina compared to 2 million in the same period last year.”

According to data from the Integrated Operations Center (COI) of the Paraná Highway Department (DER-PR), despite the two points with a single working lane in the mountainous region, the traffic flow continues as usual in both directions, with a maximum peak of six kilometers, particularly at km 42, where the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT) is still working on recovering the road from landslides.

Source: A Tribuna

To read the full original news report, see: https://www.atribuna.com.br/noticias/portomar/federacao-da-agricultura-do-parana-cogita-desviar-soja-de-paranagua-para-santos

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