Access to Santos Port Back to Normal After Fire
Access to Brazil's largest port, Santos, was fully restored for cargo and passenger vehicles on Monday after one entrance had been partially blocked for a week due to a fire at a nearby fuel-tank facility, highway operator Ecovias said. Authorities had blocked the entrance due to its proximity to the fire at the fuel-tank facility operated by Ultracargo, a unit of Brazilian chemical and fuel-distribution company Grupo Ultra. An entrance on the opposite side of the port's shipping channel, in Guaruja, was not affected.
Fire Still Restricts Trucks from Largest Brazilian Port
A fire at a fuel-storage facility at the Port of Santos, the largest port in Brazil, burned for a sixth day on Tuesday, restricting access to trucks delivering grains and other goods. Firefighters on Monday managed to extinguish the flames at a facility run by Ultracargo, a unit of Brazilian chemical and fuel-distribution company Grupo Ultra, only to see gasoline in one of the tanks reignite. By Tuesday morning two of the six fuel tanks at the facility were on fire, Ultracargo said in a statement. Police and highway operators have blocked much of the truck access to the port, and the harbor master has banned ship movements at terminals along the busy Alemoa docks. As a result, ships cannot restock bunker-fuel supplies.
Brazil Truck Strike Diminishes
Some truck drivers in Brazil continued blocking roads on Tuesday, slowing grains deliveries to southern ports, even as adherence to the strike diminished and a key highway in top soy state Mato Grosso opened. Nationwide, there were 18 roadblocks over rising freight costs by the end of the day on Monday, well below peaks of more than 100 a week ago, federal highway police said. With the two-week-old protests concentrated in the south, however, the situation at No. 2 soy exporting port Paranagua remained critical, a spokesman said. On Monday just over 700 trucks arrived at the port, less than half the normal amount for this time of the year. With stocks running out, the port can only guarantee exports of soybeans and soymeal through Wednesday, the spokesman said.
Access to Brazil's Santos Port Cleared of Striking Truckers
A main access road to Brazil's Port of Santos was cleared early on Wednesday after a truck driver strike dispersed, though other roads in the country remained blocked as protests stretched into a second week. Highway operator Ecovias said via Twitter that the protest on the Anchieta highway leading to Latin America's largest port had concluded and all lanes were cleared. Still, traffic remains slow due to the long back-up of trucks on the road. Brazilian truck drivers have been blocking roads in protest over high fuel and toll prices, poor road quality and changes to rules governing trucking. The protests have interrupted supplies of diesel and raw materials across the country and threatened to hold up grains exports at ports in the middle of a record harvest.
Protesters Block Brazil's Port of Santos
Protesting truckers in Brazil blocked access to the port of Santos on Tuesday, according to a representative for highway operator Ecovias, threatening shipments of soybeans in the middle of what is expected to be a record harvest. (Reporting by Eduardo Simoes, Marcelo Teixeira and Alberto Alerigi Jr.; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
