Progress in Truck Area Project at the Port of Santos

[[legacy_image_359166]] The Port Authority of Santos (APS) will publish, by next week, a public call for the concession of a 530,000 square meter area, of which 100,000 square meters will be designated for a new truck yard with 800 spaces. The land is located in Cubatão, at the junction of Imigrantes and Anchieta highways, next to the Mario Covas Viaduct. APS intends to establish a public-private partnership (PPP).

The president of the Port Authority, Anderson Pomini, ensures that the new parking lot will resolve a longstanding conflict between drivers and residents of Santos, caused by trucks parked in residential areas.

"The market will have at its disposal 530,000 m2, of which 100,000 m2 will be used for a port parking lot. It is a requirement in exchange for the creation of 800 truck spaces, with adequate space for drivers to have leisure, hygiene and bathing areas, religious and psychological support", explains Pomini.

"It's absurd that the Port doesn't have a proper yard for the 15,000 trucks that arrive at the Right Bank every day", Pomini adds, emphasizing that the new yard should address the logistical bottleneck generated, mainly, by cargo vehicles accessing terminals located in retroport areas.

According to him, a good portion of the trucks are part of the scheduling system implemented in the port's polygon, but there are issues with truckers serving the retro area, outside the polygon.

"They come without scheduling and stop in the city, generating conflict with residents because they park in front of houses, as there is nowhere else to park. This yard will directly resolve this conflict", he states.

Pomini recalls the temporary parking lot (for six months) inaugurated on November 23, 2023, on Perimetral Avenue. "We delivered an area, temporarily, which now serves between 400 and 500 truckers. It is an area owned by Libra, the result of an agreement we are designing with the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU)".

Stances

The president of the Union of Autonomous Road Freight Transporters of Baixada Santista and Vale do Ribeira (Sindicam), Luciano Carvalho, believes the project could help independent drivers. "But we need to understand if the yard will serve trucks in the region because, during the harvest season, Ecopátio and Rodopark cannot cope".

Carvalho says the biggest bottleneck is in Cubatão and that the problem of trucks transporting bulk solids needs to be solved. "When it rains, grain ships don't operate. Trucks are coming down the mountain, but those in the yards don't leave. Parking spaces are scarce in the region. We hope this will solve it".

The president of the Union of Commercial Cargo Transport Companies of the São Paulo Coast (Sindisan), André Luís Neiva, states that "any initiative that contributes to the availability of parking spaces in our region is very welcome".