Anuário da Indústria de Implementos Rodoviários 2021

45 After overcoming obstacles and guaranteeing cargo transport in 2020, road freight transport needs to balance cost and prices A lot of battles ahead in the short term F rancisco Pelucio, the CEO of NTC&Logística, has worked in the road freight business since he was 14 years old, and he knows better than most how to read the sector. But in his first year in office at the head of the entity he faced a challenge never seen by any leader of any sector in the last hundred years - the global pandemic. Naturally, road freight transport, felt the impact. “It was frightening, and we remain concerned, but we hope that the virus can be eliminated as soon as possible. It demonstrated the responsibility of Brazilian road transport operators, who kept Brazil moving despite all the challenges,” says Pelucio. Pelucio says that in April 2020 the volume of cargo transported fell by approximately 45%, with up to 80% of revenues slashed at some companies. “But Brazilian transport has not stopped, and never will stop,” says Pelucio. The sector acted quickly to find solutions and mitigate the effects of the crisis. Pelucio points to the extension of drivers’ licenses that would otherwise have expired, and compulsory courses so that professionals could continue transporting and investing in the digital universe, with live streams providing information for transport companies. Pelucio believes an important measure that would help the sector at this time and in the long run would be the continuation of payroll tax breaks, perhaps becoming permanent. “The lifting of these tax breaks increases cargo transport company costs, reduces job opportunities, and - as cargo transport is a service, would negatively impact the entire economy,” he says. Pelucio underscores the importance of a fleet renewal program to boost the sector, but which has not got off the drawing board in two decades. “But the work is being done. The big problem is having trucks that are 30 to 40 years old and which break down. It is unacceptable that most trucks in Brazil are 20 years old,” says Pelucio. The challenges in 2021, however, are much more pressing. The sector will need to solve the issue of rising costs, demand which is still below the ideal level for supply, and prices that need to be updated. A survey by NTC in January showed that freight prices were 13.9% too low in 2020 while operating costs were rising well above the official level of inflation – at 9.43% for fractional loads, and 7.15% closed loads. The price of diesel skyrocketed in the second half of last year, and in early 2021. The survey also showed that 41.4% of the companies did not increase freight charges last year, while 30.8% gave a discount of 7.9% on average, with only 27.8% increasing prices. The average increase was 5.3%. “Pricing has to consider rising costs and losses have to be eliminated. These have compromised companies’ cash flows,” says Lauro Valdivia, a technical advisor to NTC. NTC & Logística de muchas variables para que se puedan consolidar a fines de 2021. Moraes no descarta, por lo tanto, revisiones por delante. Anfavea alerta también acerca de otras incertidumbres a corto plazo, además de una potencial extensión de la crisis sanitaria. Men- ciona, por ejemplo, dificultades logísticas, falta de insumos, aumento de la carga tributaria, cadena productiva presionada por el aumento de los costos y Real devaluado. Para la producción de vehículos pesados, considerando también autobuses que sumaron solamente 18,4 mil unidades en 2020, el peor resultado desde 1999, la entidad calcula avance de 23%. Lle- gará a las 135 mil unidades frente a las 109 mil del año pasado. Algo como 20 mil unidades serán exportadas - 16% más que en 2020. Los fabricantes de camiones particularmente tuvieron mucho menos de qué quejarse en 2020 que los fabricantes de automóviles. Gracias sobre todo a la agroindustria, la cual siguió demandando mo- delos pesados, la producción y ventas de camiones retrocedió mucho menos que el 42% estimado por la propia Anfavea a mediados del año pasado, incluso bajo los primeros impactos de la pandemia. El balance a fines de diciembre, sin embargo, señaló 90,9 mil camiones fabricados (19,9% menos que en 2019), resultado que superó incluso la producción registrada en 2017 cuando el mercado interno recién empezaba a recuperarse de la crisis del año anterior, el cual había limitado las ventas internas a 51 mil unidades, el menor nivel de la década. El mercado interno absorbió 89,7 mil camiones ligeros y pesa- dos, apenas 11,5% inferior a 2019. “Mucho mejor de lo que espe- rábamos inicialmente. 2020 superó incluso a 2018”, destaca Marco Saltini, director de Anfavea. Si los números consolidados en 2020 llegaron a sorprender po- sitivamente frente a lo que la industria llegaba a temer, las proyeccio- nes para 2021 muestran un escenario mucho mejor. Pero las luces de atención de la industria siguen encendidas. ¡Y en amarillo!