A tugboat and a barge carrying three trucks, 2,000 empty cooking gas cylinders and a backhoe are stranded on a sandbar in a diminished Rio Negro river after running aground last month as the region is affected due to a severe drought, in Cacau Pirera. , Brazil, October 10, 2023. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly
MANAUS – A barge carrying three trucks and 2,000 empty gas cylinders is stranded on the vast sandbanks of a diminished Rio Negro river after running aground last month, highlighting the plight of river transport in the region of the Amazon affected by a severe drought.
Officials warned that low river levels risk disrupting grain exports from nearby farming states. In Madeira, they said barge routes used by grain companies such as Cargill, Bunge and Amaggi are open, but cargoes are being reduced as a precaution.
Shipping and logistics group AP Moller-Maersk warned customers on Wednesday that shipping in the area of Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon, was not possible.
READ: Mass death of Amazon river dolphins linked to severe drought, heat
“The depth of the Amazon River at its critical points has reached a level that makes maritime operations in Manaus unviable,” the company said.
Maersk said in a separate statement that the severe drought has affected 60 of the 62 municipalities in the state of Amazonas, causing the temporary suspension of the cabotage service there from Manaus.
Captain Junior Cesar stands in his tug next to a barge carrying three trucks, 2,000 empty cooking gas cylinders and a backhoe, as it is stranded on a sandbar in a diminished Rio Negro river after running aground last month, when the region is affected. due to a severe drought, in Cacau Pirera, Brazil, October 10, 2023. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly
The captain of the stranded vessel towing the barge, Junior Cesar da Silva, said he had come to collect supplies in Manaus for Borba, 280 kilometers (175 miles) away on the Madeira, a tributary of the Amazon where water levels have fallen to record levels. get off
“As we approached, we ran aground and help arrived too slowly to refloat my boat as the water was receding very quickly,” he said in an interview.
READ: In Brazil’s Amazon, drought affects residents’ access to food and water
The Amazon region is under pressure from the El Niño weather phenomenon, with rainfall in the northern Amazon below historical averages and river levels falling near record levels.
“Beaches and rocks are appearing in Madeira that we haven’t seen before,” Da Silva said.
The heat wave and drought, linked to mass die-offs of fish and river dolphins, has limited access to supplies for local communities that rely on river transport in the rainforest.
César said store shelves were being emptied in Borba, where his barge delivers food, drinking water, cooking gas, gasoline and construction materials.
A tugboat and a barge carrying three trucks, 2,000 empty cooking gas cylinders and a backhoe are stranded on a sandbar in a diminished Rio Negro river after running aground last month as the region is affected due to a severe drought, in Cacau Pirera. , Brazil, October 10, 2023. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly
The Brazilian government created a humanitarian task force in September to deliver food packages to isolated villages and indigenous communities. On Tuesday, indigenous groups in the Amazon called on the Brazilian government to declare a climate emergency as their villages lack clean water, food or medicine due to a severe drought.
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As part of a contingency plan, Maersk’s local operator, Alianca Navegacao e Logística, is diverting ships bound for Manaus to alternative ports, such as Vila do Conde and Pecem.
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Maersk’s Alianca hopes to restore service as soon as airworthiness conditions permit in mid-November, with limited capacity, according to Alianca’s Brazilian website. Larry Carvalho, a lawyer specializing in logistics, said transport costs were rising as ship schedules were affected in the Amazon, with critical situations in Manaus and the Madeira River, where grain companies move products . Speaking to Reuters by telephone, he said higher transport costs were affecting companies operating in the so-called Manaus free trade zone, where tax incentives are in place to encourage industrialization in northern Brazil.
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