51 2016 The 2015/16 grain harvest is estimated at 210.3 million tons. This was announced by the National Supply Company (Conab) on March 10, and may yet be revised, but not by much. But based on the forecasts available at the beginning of this year, growth on the previous harvest will be only 1.3%. In fact, at first glance the change may seem small. However, in absolute numbers the results are amazing. After all this percentage means a harvest of 2.6 million tons more than in 2014/15, when the total stood at 207.7 million tons! A factor that illustrates the size of this difference is the volume of business that it could generate for the transportation segment. After all, how many truck delivers will it take to transport this additional cargo? The question is answered by businessman, Claudio Adamucho. “The deliveries are tied to the size of the vehicle. Bulk transporters in general carry 48,000 tons. That means it would require approximately 55,000 deliveries,” he says. Adamucho has been in the business for a long time - 30 years in the transport sector, including two decades focused on agribusiness products, especially grain. He is now Managing Director of Transpanorama (the first company he set up) and CEO of G10, another company he founded, in 2000.Both are based in Maringá (PR). Continuing the calculations, based on the most intense period of harvest transport, which lasts about 90 days (from March to May), just the additional volume in the 2015/16 crop will take an average of 600 of truck deliveries a day - or 18,000 a month. According to Adamucho, this could drive sales of trucks and implements. “After all, the numbers, as shown by Conab, could be an incentive for transport companies to invest,” he says. Agribusiness is not the only influence on transport companies. The state of the economy is also a major influence, either the current situation or the outlook, based on government incentives for economic development and to reduce inflation. In other words, even if the country’s economy is not good, if the government shows a desire to contribute to the resumption of growth, with real action, it breathes new life into the sector, becoming a motivating factor for Brazilian transport companies, says Adamucho. In this respect, 2016 has not started very encouragingly. In addition to the poor performance of the economy, something that does not help heavy vehicle sales for grain transport is the current size of the fleet. “There is a surplus of trucks in Brazil, following purchases made in 2013 and 2014, which was higher than demand in the country,” explains Adamucho. When it comes specifically to highway implements, he says the harvest could be enough to drive sales a little. Adamucho used the term ‘surplus’ only to refer to the number of vehicles. This does not mean that the fleet is ideal. On the contrary, in terms of the age of the trucks there is a huge way to go. Adamucho offers data that show the difference between what the age of the fleet is and what it should be. “In Brazil, if the owner of the vehicle is self-employed the average age of the implement is approximately 20 years. If it is owned by a company, it falls to seven. The ideal age is five at most.” He says that in his company the situation is quite different. “The G10 fleet is an average age of four years.” As for implements, G10 uses b-trains, bi-dump trailers, tankers, LS, 8x2, bi-tanks, 9-axle trailers, sider and box trailers. “Our fleet has 1,600 sets,” Adamucho concludes. Good news from the fields Brazil’s grain crops have increased so much they requires more than 50,000 trips by truck and highway equipment this year just to transport the difference on the last harvest, boosting potential business for the implement industry
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