The importance of waterway transport for the flow of grains in the southern region of the state of Goiás from the port of São Simão

Abstract

Currently in Brazil, cargo transportation has a great imbalance when it comes to the modal used, only the road participates in more than half of all transportation. The State of Goiás has a very high demand when it comes to grain flow, it is the fourth Brazilian state in this regard with a production that represents something around 10% of all production in the country. The dependence on a single mode (road) can bring great problems such as limiting the productive flow and overloading of the road modal and, therefore, the use of other modes or intermodality is important. This research aimed to analyze the port of the municipality of São Simão in the context of the flow of grain production in the State of Goiás. The methodology was based on data collection, through publications by official agencies (ANTAQ and IBGE). It was found that the port of São Simão already plays a very important role in the flow of grains from the state of Goiás. Due to the lack of investments in local infrastructure, the productivity of the port is reduced. However, massive investments in the location can improve the cargo and passenger flow capacity, making it an important means of integration between the southern region of the state of Goiás and the southeastern region of Brazil.