Cecafé discusses contingency plan with ANTAQ to solve logistical problems
May 23 - 2022
Coffee Geography Magazine
The Council of Coffee Exporters of Brazil, Cecafé exposed a challenging scenario in shipments, with a lack of containers and spaces on the vessels, which caused by the global logistical gridlocks. Cecafé and the other entities that make up the Instituto Pensar Agro (IPA) met on May 18, with the director of the National Agency for Waterway Transport (ANTAQ), Flávia Takafashi, and the entity's technical-regulatory team to discuss the logistical problems that occur in agribusiness exports. Represented by the Technical Director Eduardo Heron, Cecafé's executive management made a brief introduction about the challenging scenario in agro shipments, with the lower availability of containers and the lack of spaces on the vessels due to global backlog in logistic services.
Port of Santos
After the explanations from the private sector, ANTAQ, through the Navigation Regulation manager, Sérgio Augusto Nogueira de Oliveira, the Navigation Inspection manager, Fábio Queiroz Fonseca, and the Navigation Charter manager, Augusto Berton Vedan, expressed the importance for cargo users to quantify the impacts in their sectors and present them to the Agency, as well as the causes of the problems, so that the agency can assess, “in depth”, the forms of action to solve the impasses. “As a referral to this meeting, the agro entities assumed the commitment to send a list of the problems faced by the sectors to ANTAQ, as well as indicating their priorities for analysis and measures by the Regulatory Agency, which will be presented in the future to the members of the IPA, with the objective of structuring a contingency plan and mitigating the logistical problems faced by the country”, concludes Heron.
The Port of Santos is the largest in Latin America. Connecting over 600 ports in 125 countries. The port is responsible for processing 133 million tons of cargo and 4.1 million TEUs. Primary hinterland comprises 5 states representing 67% of Brazil’s GDP. Santos is the most important foreign trade route in Brazil. Almost 27% of the country’s trade balance (USD 112.3 bi) passes through the port. It is also the 39º largest container port on Lloyd’s Top 100 list (the second largest in Latin America, and the only Brazilian port on the list). Santos Port Authority is the institution responsible for managing the public port, its operations and surveillance. The company is currently undergoing a major turnaround, bringing more efficiency, transparency and competitiveness. The goal is to prepare for privatization, a process that was initiated in August 2019.