Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Brazilian Truck Line

Having been in the grain industry before coming to the district, I still get morning market updates from old co-workers and try to keep up with what’s happening in the markets.  While I may not always read them as soon as she sends them I typically get to them.  After seeing a subject line for the truck line in Brazil and reading about the harvest in Brazil the following day in Digital Dale, I went back and opened the email that she had sent about harvest to find the following pictures:




These pictures and Dale’s comments about the current issues:
-70 ships waiting to load at Paranagua
-Limited port storage has a 40 mile lineup of trucks waiting to unload soybeans outside Santos port
-Brazil freights over 60% of its grain by truck and it has a lot of trucks
-New restrictions on driving hours
All these things grouped together means it takes two weeks to do a round trip from Sorriso, Mato Grosso, to Santos.
I remember back to morning I showed up at the ethanol plant with a HUGE truck line that had already spilled out of the parking lot and kept growing as the morning went on.  Being the nice originator that I was I decided I would go get cookies to share in the truck line.  As I was leaving I came across 2 disgruntled drivers who both thought they were right and weren’t about to move for the other.  After a little coaxing and a bit of discussion with them, they both were on their ways in their respective directions.  I can’t imagine dealing with 40 MILES of truck line!!!! This gives a whole new perspective to our truck lines and waits at the elevators during harvest.

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