Drought forces companies to suspend sending ships with cargo for trade and Manaus Free Trade Zone

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According to the Brazilian Association of Cabotage Shipowners, since September 15th, companies have no longer reserved containers to be allocated to ships or new cargo transport to the capital of Amazonas. Delivery of products for commerce and industry in Manaus is impacted by drought Due to the severe drought that Amazonas is facing, the navigation of ships carrying loads of inputs for commerce and manufacturing of products in the Manaus Free Trade Zone (ZFM) was temporarily suspended. According to the Brazilian Association of Cabotage Shipowners (Abac), nautical companies encounter difficulties with the low levels of rivers in the state. According to Abac, since September 15th, companies have no longer reserved containers to be sent on ships or new cargo transport to Manaus, as navigation is considered impossible in the region. The 2023 Drought in Manaus is already the third biggest in history. In the last measurement of the capital’s port, the level of the Rio Negro reached 13.91 meters, the city is 28 centimeters away from the historic low tide, recorded in 2010, when the river dropped to 13.63 meters. The river transport sector estimates that 80% of companies that provide logistics to Manaus are suffering from this year’s drought. And 70% of all cargo transported to the Amazonian capital arrives by ship. Ship in private port of Manaus Super Terminais Abac reported that, in recent days, two ships canceled their trip to Manaus and, probably, another three ships, which were already scheduled to transport cargo, will be forced to cancel. In some areas, these vessels are unable to navigate and the transport of fuel, food, raw materials and items for the ZFM cannot reach the capital of Amazonas. An alternative used by companies is to reduce cargo capacity and transport by ferry. Rede Amazônica accompanied the arrival of a vessel that came from Porto Velho to Manaus with fuel, but instead of being loaded with maximum capacity, it only came with half of it to facilitate transport. With the drought intensifying every day, cases of vessels running aground on the state’s rivers have become increasingly common. Another concern for Abac is that the Manaus Free Zone may not be able to sell its products, which, depending on the duration of the crisis, could cause shortages in the market in the South and Southeast, especially on “Black Friday”. Ports confirm suspension Port of Manaus during the low tide of 2023. William Duarte/Rede Amazônica The two main cargo ports in Manaus – Porto Super Terminais and Porto Chibatão – confirmed to Rede Amazônica that ship navigation is temporarily suspended. According to Porto Super Terminais, none of the five ships loaded with inputs for the Manaus Free Trade Zone, scheduled to dock at the port terminal in October, will be able to arrive due to the low water levels in the rivers. In a note, Porto Chibatão also confirmed that the flow of water in Manaus prevents the navigation of cargo vessels. “The water level does not allow ships to pass safely. Therefore, we are awaiting estimates from shipowners operating in our region.” Economic impacts The last quarter of the year is essential for the Free Zone to export products due to dates such as Black Friday and end-of-year parties. “This worries us because the delay in the cargo that should arrive in Manaus is huge. As a result, we will have some points and spikes in product shortages”, pointed out the president of the Chamber of Store Managers (CDL), Ralph Assayag. The vice-president of the Federation of Industries of Amazonas (Fieam), Nelson Azevedo, spoke about measures to try to reduce the impacts on industry during the drought period. “The demands are old, regarding the signage of the waterways and we hear a lot of talk that the rivers will be dredged so that when that time comes we won’t have this problem,” he said. Dredging Dredging on the Solimões River: ferries will operate in three municipalities affected by the drought in AM A solution announced by the authorities is the emergency dredging service in sections of the Solimões and Amazon rivers. With the intervention, the government intends to open the way for navigation, which has been affected by this year’s drought. According to the state government, on the Solimões River, the service will take place in the stretches between the municipalities of Tabatinga and Benjamin Constant (1,108 and 1,121 kilometers from Manaus, respectively). On the Amazon River, the work will take place in the Tabocal region (between Manaus and Itacoatiara, 176 kilometers from the capital). To Rede Amazônica, the National Department of the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit), the machines are in the region where the service will be carried out on the Solimões River, the work is within the “New PAC” and will cost R$41 million. Dnit’s expectation is that work on the Solimões River should begin on Monday (16). The municipality highlighted that it already has the Single Environmental License, issued by the Amazonas Environmental Protection Institute (Ipaam) and also pre-dredging authorization from the Navy. In the case of services for the mouth of Madeira and the Tabocal region, technicians from the municipality work on the project and then hire the company that will carry out the dredging. The projects are under development and, therefore, it is not possible to provide information at this time, Dnit reported. 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