President Jair Bolsonaro signed a provisional measure over the weekend to expand guarantees that services in the country’s ports, which are considered essential, will not be affected during the coronavirus pandemic, the government and the Senate said on Monday. MP 945/2020 allows, among other measures, the assignment of yards under military administration to air service companies, according to Agência Senado. The provisional measure also seeks to protect port workers, by changing the form of escalation of single workers who carry out loading and unloading operations to avoid crowding. The text determines that the scheduling is done remotely, allowing the professional to come to the port only at the actual time of work. As it was edited during the validity of the state of calamity approved by Congress, the MP of the ports will have an accelerated process, which means that its validity has been reduced from 120 to 16 days and the appreciation by mixed commissions is waived. Port services were included by the government among those essential, which cannot be paralyzed during the pandemic, even in the midst of a series of social isolation measures and the closure of commercial activities aimed at combating the spread of the coronavirus.
Source: Reuters / Portos e Navios