Page 50: of Marine News Magazine (November 2020)

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INLAND WATERWAYS

Hidrovias do Brasil

T ere’s Room to Grow on

Brazil’s Inland Waterways

By Claudio Paschoa razil’s waterways are underused for commercial study, from 2011 to 2018, only 10% of the federal in- transport, and shipping on them is generally in- vestments in the commercial transportation sector were fo- ef? cient. But, enormous potential exists in the cused on inland navigation. Investing in waterways would country’s 12 river basins, according to Brazil’s take some burden off highway transportation, and increas-

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National Transport Confederation (CNT). Of the 63,000 ing the use of inland navigation would also help reduce kilometers (km) that could potentially be used for inland transportation costs, with the advantage of cutting back on navigation, only 19,500 km (30.9%) of the existing net- carbon emissions, the CNT added.

work is currently used commercially for cargo and passen- ger transport, leaving more than two-thirds unused. Brazilian waterways challenges

However, despite wasted opportunities, Brazilian rivers There is a dire need to expand the integration between have registered an increase in transported volume in recent river basins and other transport systems and also ef? ciently years, which shows their huge potential to contribute to expand the connection of inland waterways with major the development of the country's economy. Only 5% of commercial sea ports, Costa said. Another hurdle is to cargo transportation in the country is by inland waterways. improve infrastructure in inland terminals, navigation sys-

Brazil currently has 2.3 km of usable waterways per 1,000 tems, buoys, along with police and customs patrolling of square km, but the ? gure could reach 7.4 km per 1,000 the river basins.

square km if all the navigable waterways were utilized, ac- “Navigation locks that are required for ships and barges cording to a recent study published by the CNT. “Most to pass through high dams, such as Itaipú and Tucuruí are of the rivers being used for transportation are in Brazil's another important necessity and a master plan is required northern region. In those areas, passenger transporta- for combining hydropower plants and river navigation. tion is in most cases made through rivers, but still, water Major maintenance dredging is required on all basins, but transportation is far from reaching its full potential,” said is especially urgent in South Brazil. Another problem re-

Vander Fancisco Costa, President of CNT. lates to environmental licensing processes, which can cause

The CNT attributed the low usage of waterways to fac- long and time-consuming procedures for permissions to be tors such as infrastructure de? ciencies, bureaucracy and granted, therefore causing delays waterway transportation low federal and private investments. According to the projects,” Costa said.

November 2020 50 MN