The billionaire investment that the government promises to make with the road and rail concession package causes the industry companies to start investments. In Minas, two companies in particular are ready to grab a slice of the amount that the massive package should handle in the coming years. The competitors in the manufacture of locomotives Caterpillar Inc. and GE Transportation, based in Sete Lagoas and Contagem, respectively, foresee the need to increase production by up to 50%.
Altogether, the federal government says it must invest $65.33 billion in the logistics plan, of which $44.70 billion will be allocated for the construction of more than 10,000 km of railroads across the country in the next 25 years. Over the next five years, $27.51 billion will be invested in railroads. But in the case of manufacturers of locomotives, orders will only enter the rails after the network is finally built. The government’s expectation is that by 2018 the branches are delivered; thus, it is estimated that orders be made from 2015.
Newly opened, the plant of Progress Rail Services, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., must deliver the first 12 locomotives in October. Another 22 have been ordered. And with the investments of the National Logistics Plan, it is expected that can be an increase in demand of 50%. But the effects for the industry should only be felt after the permanent way is complete. “The plan is crucial for the industry, but our company in Brazil, which manufactures rolling stock, will take a few years to feel the benefit,” the director general of Progress Rail Services Carlos Roso said. He claims that the installed capacity of the plant is eight locomotives per month, but as soon as the concessions advance “we can increase it rapidly.”
Four decades after being installed in the Greater Belo Horizonte, GE Transportation delivered more than 1,300 locomotives. In 2010, the company began an investment of $35 million to expand production capacity from 60 to 120 locomotives per year. Last year, the company delivered 110 units. And, if necessary, it is able to produce up to 240 per year with some modifications in its current infrastructure. “It is a modal that lacked the necessary attention in recent years. But it is the best modal to be operated, and the development of the country has to do with the rail transport,” the president and CEO of GE Transportation Guilherme Mello said, noting that the investment can not be late for that logistics is no longer a bottleneck for economic growth.
Demand
Mello assesses, however, that first it is necessary to know what type of freight will be transported and what will be the format of the route to finally know what is the demand for locomotives. Furthermore, studies that the Empresa de Planejamento e Logística (EPL) shall develop will provide an overview of the demand in the country. In the state of Minas Gerais, the segment that will pass through Corinto, connecting Uruaçu (state of Goiás) to Campos (state of Rio de Janeiro), for example, should facilitate the handling of quartz.
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