The stretch between the ports of Suape (PE) and Santos (SP) will again have express cabotage service (coastal navigation) from June. The operation of a direct route between the largest port of the Northeast and the port of Santos, the most important in the country, will reduce the navigation time to three days, according to the Pernambuco terminal. Today, in the route Santos-Suape, the boats arrive to take to eight days; in the opposite direction are four days. In May, Folha’s report showed that, after the truck drivers stopped working until February of this year, the transportation of containers along the Brazilian coast increased by 18%. According to logistic specialists, the movement strengthened after the creation of the freight tariff, which eventually increased the transportation of freight in some parts of the country, especially those in the direction of descent (such as Northeast-Southeast), boosting waterway transportation. Cabotage is underutilized in the country, and the current capacity allows an expansion of the service. The Santos-Suape express route will be offered by Mercosul Line. Sought, the company did not comment. In the past, Alliance, a company specialized in coastal transport and a competitor of Mercosul, has already offered express service on the same route. Currently, it makes direct navigation between ports on the routes Santos-Salvador, Sepetiba (RJ) -Salvador, Manaus-Pecém (CE) and Pecém-Vila do Conde (PA). According to the Ilos, from June 2018 to February 2019 cabotage grew 14.8% from South / Southeast to the Northeast. Conversely, the increase was 21.3%. According to the Ilos (Institute of Logistics Suplly Chain), 508 thousand tons have been transported through coastal shipping in the last year, according to the Ilos (Institute of Logistics Suplly Chain), by road transport from São Paulo to Pernambuco three million tons of cargo. The food, beverage, consumer electronics, white goods appliances, furniture and cleaning products are the ones that use the naval route the most and should benefit from express service, according to Suape.
Source: Portos e Navios