Companies anticipate shipments between Santos and Manaus due to drought in Northern Brazil

A technical analysis by Aliança Navegação estimates that this year's drought will affect Manaus between late October and early December (Disclosure/Grupo Chibatão)

Coastal shipping companies (which operate between ports within the same country), also active at the Port of Santos, have been anticipating cargo movements to Manaus in an effort to mitigate the negative consequences of the expected drought affecting rivers in the Amazon region, in the North of the country.

Meanwhile, the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit) states that infrastructure works will be completed this year to ensure navigability on strategic routes during dry seasons. Over the past two years, the drought has caused significant losses to the coastal shipping sector.

“The industry always prepares for the drought. It’s a seasonal phenomenon. The last two years were very serious and severe. In 2023 and 2024, the drought caused almost BRL 3 billion in costs for industries”, said Augusto Rocha, coordinator of the logistics and competitiveness committee at the Centro da Indústria do Estado do Amazonas (Cieam).

According to Luís Fernando Resano, Executive Director of the Associação Brasileira de Armadores de Cabotagem (Abac), coastal vessels were unable to reach terminals in Manaus for 45 days in 2023, resulting in approximately 45,000 containers not being moved. Last year, a strategy was implemented to try to reduce the impact of the drought.

“In 2024, through initiatives by terminals and shipping companies, we operated with a floating pier in Itacoatiara, which allowed logistics to continue in the region. However, it led to waiting lines, as the infrastructure was a contingency measure.”

According to him, since Manaus and Santos are the main ports for container movement in coastal shipping, the logistics chain was heavily impacted, “with increased service costs”, Resano stated.

Forecasts A technical analysis conducted by Aliança Navegação e Logística estimates that this year's drought will affect Manaus between late October and early December.

Reviewing the Brazilian Geological Service (SGB) graph on the Amazon River drought, Augusto Rocha concludes that this year’s dry season is not expected to be as severe.

“We hope the lessons learned from previous years will help reduce the impact on industry, allow shipowners and port terminals to better manage costs, and encourage the government to invest in correcting this structural deficiency.”

According to the Cieam coordinator, an underwater engineering project is needed to modify the river’s hydrodynamics in order to avoid dredging. Currently, he says, the focus of dredging is on navigation safety, not channel deepening.

Resano adds that last year, during the drought, a communications cable was identified as obstructing some dredging operations.

“There is a need to plan the repositioning of the cable, which also involves the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel). Our stance and request to Dnit is to ensure transparency in action planning so we can monitor developments”, said the Abac Executive Director.

He believes the Northern Region is not adequately prepared to face severe droughts.

“Unfortunately, I don’t see sufficient infrastructure for critical moments like those of 2023 and 2024. The private sector adopted mitigation measures to handle the serious issues of 2023. They were satisfactory, but we need to work toward maintaining a normal logistical flow.”

Resano states that the 2024 solution increased operational costs, extended transit times, and created bottlenecks.

Costs Over the past two years, the drought in Manaus has generated BRL 3 billion in costs for industries. The worst scenario occurred in 2023, when coastal vessels were unable to access terminals in Manaus for 45 days, resulting in approximately 45,000 containers not being moved.