National Transportation Confederation releases transportation and economy analysis

While the Brazilian economy is beginning to show small signs that it may begin to recover, the transport sector does not provide figures that point to an optimistic scenario. From January to September 2019, GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of transportation fell 0.1% while Brazil’s GDP rose 1.0%. In the same period, land and air modes performed negatively compared to the same period of the previous year. Only the waterway registered a growth of 2.3% on the same basis of comparison.

This is what the new edition of the Transport in Numbers study reveals, launched this Thursday (12/13) by the National Transportation Confederation (NTC). The publication consolidates information on the Brazilian macroeconomic scenario and the performance of the transportation sector. It also shows the panorama in relation to the economy in 2019, the effects for transportation and how the sector has been facing difficulties, as well as analyzes referring to previous years.

The road segment still suffers from the weak demand for goods and services, which has persisted in Brazil for almost three years. An indication of this stagnation is the flow of vehicles on Brazil’s toll roads, which, despite growing from January to October this year, did not perform well enough to replace the losses of the recession and return the flow to the pre-recession level, in 2014. The volume of light vehicles grew by 3.8% and heavy vehicles by 4.5%, compared to the same period of the previous year.

In addition, ANTT (National Land Transport Agency) data show that, from January to October 2019, total Brazilian rail production fell by 11.8% in transported useful tons compared to the same period of 2018. NTC evaluates that the railway modal was possibly influenced by the deactivation of Vale dams after the dam rupture in Brumadinho (MG), and by structural problems with other dams in the country.

“Transport is a crucial thermometer of the economy. After all, we transport what is produced in the country. And while the economy shows signs of a slight recovery, the industry is still feeling the effects of the economic downturn, as demand for services of transportation remains low in the country,” comments NTC President Vander Costa.

Some numbers of the water transport of cargo:

– Long-haul navigation: 585.09m tons transported from January to September 2019, down 4.0% compared to the same period last year.

– Cabotage: 122.67m tons transported, 1.4% increase

– Inland navigation: 80.18m tons, up 3.3%. Cabotage transportation of general cargo and container freight grew by 13.7% and 18.3% respectively

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