8 Biggest logistical challenges in Brazil
Brazil is not a reference country in logistics, but it seeks to improve this aspect more and more, even as a matter of necessity. For this, it is necessary to face the logistical challenges in Brazil, which are quite complex and difficult to be faced.
When we talk about logistics infrastructure, we are basically talking about logistics related to the transportation of cargo from the productive sectors to Brazilian society or to the ports, where exports take place. Currently, Brazil is very dependent on the road sector, which is the most widely used mode of transport in the country, comprising more than 60% of the cargo transported. Meanwhile, railroads comprise just over 20%.
To learn more about how transport logistics is composed in the country and its importance, which is essentially economic, access the following link and check it out.
Content Index
Main logistical challenges in Brazil
Given this panorama, and deciphering what transport logistics is, we list the main logistics in Brazil, which need to be tackled so that the logistics infrastructure is more and more ready to meet the demands of national transport.
Transport security
When a company produces, and plans to transport produced goods to other regions, it needs to ensure that these loads arrive complete and on time.
Currently, as we said earlier, the main way of transporting these goods is by the road sector, that is, by the path of the trucks on the highways. However, the number of accidents on the country's highways has been growing more and more, and many of the accidents involve trucks.
For this reason, one of the main logistical challenges in Brazil is to find solutions so that the occurrence of accidents, essentially on roadways, is reduced. With the occurrence of accidents on the track, in addition to problems related to the health of employees, the goods can be lost, causing several losses for investors.
For this, there are several ways that companies can take to try to prevent this from happening, such as improving vehicle conditions, monitoring drivers to see if they are complying with traffic laws and are not consuming alcoholic beverages, among others.
One of the biggest logistical challenges in Brazil is the lack of infrastructure
In addition to the causes of accidents caused by the drivers themselves, or due to structural problems in the vehicles, there is a difficulty related to the infrastructure of the transport routes, both on the railroads and on the highways, which hinders the speed and quality of travel.
In the more than 30 thousand km of railroads, for example, there is a big gap in the quality of the lines. While some receive a larger financial contribution, precisely to qualify the trains and tracks, others went through a long process of scrapping, leaving the railroads and vehicles in precarious conditions.
On the highways, which is the main mode of transport for the transportation of cargo, the situation is even more complicated. A study by DNIT (National Department of Land Transport) showed that the country has around 1.7 million kilometers of road. Of this amount, just over 220 thousand km are paved, representing only 13%.
Therefore, this is one of the great logistical challenges in Brazil. For travel to be faster, with less risk of accidents and, consequently, loss of goods, transport routes need to be better worked.
Storage
Before cargo can be transported, it needs to be stored, generating a stock of goods. However, the quality of this storage is still one of the logistical challenges in Brazil.
The organization of the storage of goods is still a very serious problem in the country, mainly for two reasons: errors in the organization of orders and loss of products due to contamination.
In the production sectors, essentially industry and agribusiness, a large part of the products produced need to be stored until they arrive in turn to be transported. However, due to the lack of adequate storage space, they end up being mixed, generating errors when transporting.
Still, the conditions of the storage spaces are often precarious, which can lead to contamination of the goods and, consequently, their loss.
Freight lag
Safety and efficiency in cargo transportation is essential for companies to keep their demands up to date. Therefore, it is necessary that there is a freight rate for operations,guaranteeing a beneficial financial movement for companies to keep operating.
Freight is calculated in several ways, considering road conditions, fuel costs and distance, for example. However, the constant financial crises that the country faces, year after year, means that companies have to decrease the value of freight, which is one of the main sources of profit in transport logistics.
With this decrease in freight rates, companies end up making less profit and, consequently, fewer financial resources are left to invest in other issues, such as improving transportation vehicles.
Thus, this is one of the main logistical challenges in Brazil, and it is necessary to find a more scaled way so that freight does not fall so much and harm the activities of corporations.
Lack of professionals
Any productive sector, business and also logistical organization, needs to have as many qualified professionals as possible so that the activity is organized, responsible and of quality. However, this is one of the logistical challenges in Brazil, since the transport sector lacks specialized professionals in this area.
As the logistics infrastructure is an area that needs a well-worked strategy, the presence of qualified professionals is essential. At the same time, this field of action is not so attractive, mainly due to the low salary, considering the importance of this work.
In this way, it is often the companies themselves that need to invest a financial contribution for the training of these professionals, causing them to evolve and grow, improving the strategies that will be used. With this, resources, which could be used in other types of improvements, end up being spent in an improper way, hindering the growth of logistics in general.
Technology lag
Another area that continues to suffer from the lag is the technology designated for transport logistics. Unfortunately, this is still a very precarious field in this sense, especially in the organizational and administrative part.
Technologies are developed precisely to improve practices and optimize working time, and when it is not exploited properly, it creates this problem in efficiency. In logistics, for example, technology can be used to improve travel registration and planning, but there are still logistical challenges in Brazil for it to reach the necessary level.
Rising costs in operations
Keeping the accounts scaled, considering the operational costs of transportation, is one of the biggest logistical challenges in Brazil.
The taxes, the decrease in value, the high investment that needs to be made in operations to compensate for the lack of infrastructure on transport routes, among other things, make this issue quite problematic for companies, and end up decreasing profits from operations.
Dependence on the road sector
To conclude, the dependence of the road sector for carrying out cargo transportation is perhaps one of the greatest logistical challenges in Brazil. Just by looking at the numbers we present, for example the mileage of roads and railroads, we can see that there is a very big difference between the two modes.
Still, the railroads present several advantages in relation to the railroads, such as: faster trips, greater amount of cargo transported in one trip, cheaper freight, no traffic, more qualified routes.
Because of this dependence, which is still very high, in the road sector, companies end up being held hostage by this segment, having to spend more, taking longer to deliver the products and still run a greater risk of accidents in the middle of the journey.
What are the solutions to these logistical challenges in Brazil?
Obviously, finding the best solutions to overcome logistical challenges in Brazil is not an easy and short-term job. However, by understanding what these challenges are, work can be better targeted.
At the moment, some more tangible solutions that could be worked on are mainly in stimulating the competitiveness of the various transport segments, essentially the railroads. As we have seen, railroads have some advantages over highways, and reducing this dependence on the road sector would be an excellent start.
Also, stimulating new professionals, mainly by means of more attractive salaries, is a good way to qualify the planning and practical actions of logistics.
Last but not least, the increase in investment, both in the public and private sectors, in the infrastructure of road tracks and railroads, the generation of greater space for the storage of goods, and investment in technological growth for the sector, are also solutions that make sense and would certainly improve the quality of logistics in Brazil.
Conclusion on the logistical challenges in Brazil
With the article we can conclude that, there are still many challenges that need to be faced and overcome in order for the logistics, essentially the transport, of Brazil to be more competitive and qualified. For this, it is important that the people involved understand what these challenges are and work on them, so that time and resources are not wasted on mistaken attempts at growth.
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https://antigo.infraestrutura.gov.br/rodovias-brasileiras.html#:~:text=A%20malha%20rodovi%C3%A1ria%20federal%20do,rodovias%20n%C3%A3o%20pavimentadas%20%5B2%5D.
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https://esales.com.br/blog/os-6-principais-desafios-da-logistica-brasileira/
https://www.metro1.com.br/noticias/brasil/55597,mais-de-60-das-cargas-brasileiras-sao-transportadas-em-rodovias
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