Hybrid Moda Management Agreement could “unlock” sector and reduce freight price, according to a cargo users’ association
The legal instability of Brazil deucers private investments in ports and railways and wages the growth of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), according to the executive president of (National Association of Cargo Transport Users) ,.
Baldez states that cargo carriers perceive the demand for the service to grow, but that infrastructure and route alternatives have not advanced in tune. For him, if new transport management contracts are signed, joining the concession and the model open accessit would be possible to leave the investment in the sector more attractive.
“It has to have economic conditions for this, attractive interest rates are also important for the investor’s decision. But the regulatory environment, the business environment, is the most important to resolve.”he said in an interview with Poder360.
He says that with a more attractive sector, more companies need to compete with each other and offer the best conditions of operation to the Union. Thus, the price of freight would fall. What is not due to a company, or consortium, managing a single highway or railway.
According to him, while it is not possible to have a model of open access – Multiple Administration – Brazil could adopt the hybrid model.
Hybrid model
The model open access Highway management is a format in which road infrastructure remains public, but the provision of services – electronic toll componration, logistics services, maintenance operators – is open to various private operators through common rules and regulated tariffs.
It works similarly to what already occurs in sectors such as electricity, telecommunications or railways in some countries:
- The state maintains the ownership of the road – or delegates to a public agency/company);
- The highway is open to multiple service providers;
- The user pays different rates depending on the contracted service, but there is no monopoly of the via via – as a concession
It is not possible to abruptly change the current model in Brazil, because there are concession contracts that need to be respected, according to Baldez.
“You can’t tear contracts. What can be done for new projects is to open the market for those who wanted to invest only in the rail infrastructure, which is the Open Access model, where there is an infrastructure manager and several rail operators that charge freight to transport products of any origin.”, says.
In practice, the union of models would function with the maintenance of the concession contract, in which a company or consortium is still responsible for the conservation and expansion of the infrastructure, but allowing other private operators to use the same highway or rail for the payment of regulated tariffs.
Thus, the concessionaire follows as the road manager, while different companies compete in the offer of transportation, logistics or electronic collection services, reducing concentration and making the sector more competitive.
Watch the full interview (44min03s):
Baldez also talked about:
- Competition on STS-10 – “There have been cases where the court ruled for everyone’s participation and with that exception that anyone who earns, giving up the position they have there. It is able to repeat this position now in this real case. But there would only be a risk of monopoly if who earns the bidding does not give up their previous position.”;
- Expansion – “There is no environmental licensing of the ports as a whole. Each project has to have its own environmental license. And in this case, licenses take excessive time and make the project and the investment itself unfeasible. This discourages.”;
- Interest rate – “Brazil’s interest rate is very high […] To the extent that it starts to increase taxes on the cash flow head, such as the IOF, which he will have to pay for the financing he has, the return fee has to be higher than the interest rate. Since the country’s interest rates are already high, you create a difficulty in enabling your project in the long run, because the rate of return needs to be attractive to enable investment.
- Regulatory Agencies – “It is a pity what is happening with regulatory agencies. They were designed as a technical arm of the state so as not to politicize consumer relationships. […] Over time, this autonomy has been weakening and ended up compromising the core of its function. It weakens and we get absolutely helpless. ”
