Port of Paranaguá ships 155 buses to Africa

Last Friday, November 13, the Port of Paranaguá carried out the largest bus loading in its history. In a single batch, the Maestro Universe loaded 155 units. Public transport vehicles are being taken to the ports of Boma, in Congo, and Luanda, in Angola. The trip should take between 10 and 13 days to reach the destinations.

This is the second export batch negotiated by the Marcopolo company with countries on the African continent. In the first batch, carried out in October, 110 buses were shipped, also taken to the port of Boma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This time, in addition to the carmaker’s own vehicles, 31 Caio buses (Apache model, Man chassis) also make up the cargo. These go to Luanda, as well as 14 other Marcopolo Torino (also Man chassis). 110 Marcopolo Torino buses (Volvo chassis) will go to Congo. These Volvo chassis were produced in Curitiba.

The vessel Maestro Universe is a ro-ro vessel. This vessel measures 160 meters long and 22 meters wide. However, the difference is the height of the four decks available for this transport. This vessel supports both the height of each bus and the total weight of the closed lot.

According to Gilberto Lima, director of Wasa Projects and Logistics, the company responsible for the bus shipments to West Africa and for the arrival of ro-ro ships at the Port of Paranaguá, confidence in the port operator and in the port of Paraná were decisive for the operation at the Paraná terminal. “Paranaguá is a central port. Furthermore, the cost is the lowest by far. So I can say that the port’s practicality, location, and price contributed 100% to develop this project here”, says Lima.

Also according to the company’s director, the ship Maestro should stay on the line (Paranaguá – Africa) at least until mid-2021. The forecast, therefore, is for new shipments to Brazilian ports, mainly Paranaguá.

“There are new projects in focus, with very good prospects for Angola and countries like Côte d’Ivoire, and most of the French-speaking countries in Africa are buying a lot of buses. We have the possibility to ensure a good portion of them. We hope that they will come to the Port of Paranaguá”, completes Lima.

Numbers

In 2019, 588 buses were exported. The destinations were the ports of Acajutla, Benin, Cameroon, Caucedo, Djbouti, Douala, Ghana, Hamad, Luanda, Manzanillo, Limon, Quetzal, Santo Domingo, Santo Tomas, and Tema.

This year, with this last departure, 543 buses were exported to destinations in the ports of Acajutla, Boma, Callao, Jebel Ali, Manzanillo, Limon, Santo Domingo, Tema, Veracruz, Zarate, Saint Tomas, and Luanda.

The November 13th departure breaks the record for a single lot of 130 buses, shipped last July on the Ulusoy 5, bound for Luanda, Angola. New shipments are scheduled for mid-December, this year, and January 2021.

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