Posted on September 21, 2026
By Nayara Figueiredo, Globo Rural — São Paulo
River dredging, a contentious issue in Brazil’s logistics sector, has returned to the center of the agricultural debate amid drought risk in the North driven by the El Niño climate pattern.
Cargill Brazil President Paulo Sousa advocated dredging at an event held by Bradesco BBI in São Paulo last week, calling it a strategy to keep waterways navigable. Water transportation is essential for shipping grain from the Central-West region to Northern Arc ports, but the federal government has so far blocked dredging of the Tapajós River.
River levels in the region decline at this time of year because of the dry season. During El Niño years, however, drought and high temperatures caused by the climate phenomenon can further reduce waterway navigability.
“Waterways have to be dredged. They are dredged in the United States, on the Mississippi River; in Europe, on the Danube River; and in every access channel to the Port of London. Everything is dredged,” Sousa said.
MoveInfra—an organization representing Rumo, Santos Brasil, Ultracargo, Hidrovias do Brasil, Motiva, and Ecorodovias—estimates that as much as 5 million tonnes of grain may not be transported along the Tapajós River waterway if maintenance dredging is not performed.
Last month, the Chief of Staff Office told Valor that after reviewing the available technical information, consulting the agencies involved, and hearing from Indigenous peoples and traditional communities in the region, the federal government had decided not to dredge the section of the Tapajós between Itaituba and Santarém, Pará, at this time.
“There is regular highway traffic, and contingency plans call for roadwork to accommodate a potential increase in the number of trucks,” the Chief of Staff Office said in a statement at the time. MoveInfra estimates that the resulting additional freight costs could reach R$850 million for the industry.
At the Bradesco BBI event, Sousa told reporters that the concern is a repeat of what happened two or three years ago, when waterborne cargo transportation was halted because of shallow river levels in the North.
“A point comes when the amount of cargo that can be loaded onto a barge is so small that it is not worth the fuel expense,” he explained, noting that the company is still using the waterway for transportation.
Cargill’s alternative is to reach the Port of Santarém by truck. “There are just over 200 kilometers of unpaved road, so it is not as efficient as the waterway, but it allows us to keep operating,” he said.
Sousa added that the higher cost of switching transportation modes would not be particularly significant because only Cargill and Louis Dreyfus operate in Santarém. The additional expense would come from having to travel to Vila do Conde, also in Pará.
