ANTF forecasts 32% participation in transport

The railways should play a more important role within Brazilian logistics over the next few years. The estimate of the National Association of Railway Transport Companies (Associação Nacional dos Transportadores Ferroviários – ANTF) is that the participation in the transport matrix of the country should rise from the 25% of last year to 32% by 2023. Meanwhile, the total length of the railway network should rise from 28,476 kilometers to 48,732 kilometers. For these figures to become reality there is the need for a clear regulation which encourages the segment.  The CEO of the ANTF, Rodrigo Vilaça, highlights that one point that is being stressed in the Transpo-Sul is the possibility of implementation of a new regulatory mark for the railway segment. He feels there is a need to create conditions to increase competitivity and modernize the system.

In the opinion of Mr. Vilaça, the regulatory model for the railway segment, as implemented in the 1990s, has brought significant progress, achieving the goals set at the time. However, with economic growth and the new Brazilian reality, the goals have now increased and the Government perception is that the segment now needs to reach a new level of development, which would justify the adoption of a new strategy. This model would be more aligned to the Government targets and would also make it feasible to have the private operation of the network currently under construction, as also its connectivity with the existing network which should be simply make it compatible with the current model and should provide a voluntary migration program for current contracts.

The executive at the ANTF also stresses that there is a need for integration of the transport modals in the country. “Intermodality is a phenomenon which needs to be publicized more”, he says. As the main obstacles to the growth of intermodal transport, we can mention the tax system and also the conditions of railway access to the ports. Mr. Vilaça adds that the development of the segment depends both on private enterprise and Government action. “They are like Siamese twins”, he said.

Mr. Vilaça also remembers that, in recent years, as counterpart for railway concessions, the companies have strived to improve the operational conditions of the rail networks. They have also acquired new locomotives and cars, and recovered the run-down fleet which was inherited from the concession process.

According to the ANTF, the Federal Government has, between 1997 and 2010, raked in some R$ 13.91 billion, in concessions, leasing, taxes and Cide. In this same period, the investments made by railway companies together with those of the Federal Government in the conceded rail networks reached R$ 25.24 billion. Private investments have caused a rise of 103% in the national railway production, comparing the figures for 1997 with those for 2010, and also obtained an Average Growth Rate of 5.6%. The use of railways for goods transport increased by 85.6%, reaching a level of 278.5 billion tons per useful kilometer (TKU). The estimated production for the concessionaires in 2011 is 315.1 billion TKU.

Fonte: Jornal do Comércio – RS