Brazil has 20.1 thousand km of economically navigable waterways. With about 16 thousand km in length, Amazon rivers account for 80.79% of the country’s waterway network. Last year, 107.4 million tonnes were transported through the Amazon and Tocantins–Araguaia river basins, according to the National Waterway Transport Agency (Antaq) — representing 89% of all fluvial transport in Brazil. “This cargo transport saw a ‘boom’ starting in 2014, with the entry of companies moving agricultural bulk cargo,” said Hito Braga de Moraes, director of the Institute of Technology at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). Soybeans and corn account for half of the cargo transported, but river transport is also critical to the logistics of the Manaus Industrial Hub, from where loaded containers travel by barges to the main Arco Norte ports.
Sources: Valor Econômico/Datamar News