Event shows that country is still standing in time and behind countries like Colombia

By: Carlos Pacheco

With the objective of developing a culture of risk and insurance management in Brazil and training professionals from these segments, the International Transport Insurance Club (Cist) holds monthly workshops in various regions of the country. In São Paulo, received executives from the transportation and logistics sectors to discussed the theme “Understand how risk and insurance issues in freight transportation in Latin America”. These workshops are an achievement of Cist and the Latin American Association of Maritime Insurance (Alsum).

In the first panel, industrial engineer and general insurance manager of Equidad Seguros, David Osorio Gutierrez, spoke about the “New Business Models for Hiring Insurance for Paths for Conveyors: The Case of Colombian Success”. Initially, Gutierrez presented a comparative study of road transport, in terms of liability insurance, involving five Latin American countries. “In Brazil, the penetration of compulsory insurance increases, it is also a relevant market for Chile and Colombia”, said the executive. The other countries are Argentina and Mexico.

Gutierrez cited his experience at Equidad Seguros, a multi-channel company with strong social performance, which exhibits a diversified portfolio of products and solutions. In the field of equity risks, the company adopts the philosophy of “joint and several liability” between the shipper, the carrier and the company. Explained how specific limits, deductibles, and policy covers work. Among the benefits of protection, according to Gutierrez, “the carrier acquires significant control over the coverage of its own responsibility. Equidad operates in a strong and expanding market. In Colombia, there are specialized companies that look for heavy load carriers and logistics operators.

Logistics of the 19th century

“The complexity and challenges of logistic risks in Brazil: The vision of the shipper” was the second theme taught by the Regional Insurance Manager for Latam of Cargill, Carlos Branco. The panorama presented by Branco evaluated the use of four modalities: highways, railroads, pipelines and waterways in the transport of products. The diagnosis refers to a “19th century logistics” in Brazil.

The Cargill manager showed statistics on the extension of roads in thousands of kilometers from six countries. In the case of railroads, while Russia uses 80% of its mesh and the United States 45%, Brazil only exhibits 15% of the mesh in operation, with 30,600 km of roads implanted. Of these 1,121 km are electrified.

Between 1870 and 1930, the country lived the peak of the railroad, responsible for the flow of agricultural production. But, according to Branco, from then on, the system began to stagnate gradually. “We have a network distributed in 22 states and the Federal District that does not communicate willingly in four different gauges. Why? “he asked.

The scenario of the road network is equally disastrous. “It took us eight years to pave the first highway in 1928,” recalls the executive. If in the 1940s and 1950s the government invested heavily, especially in the JK government, the same did not happen since the 1970s with the advent of the National Road Plan. We modernize very little. The taxpayer’s money is not reverted to the system, “he warned.

In the statistics displayed by Branco, there is an abyss between some developed nations and our country. The United States, with 4.3 million paved kilometers, followed by China (1.57 million km) and India (1.56 million) lose sight of Brazil, with only 219 thousand km of paved roads. In the midst of the catastrophic picture, Branco points to three challenges in the 21st century: “lessons for the government”: reducing transport logistical costs, distributing products more efficiently and quickly and generating jobs and income throughout the chain of distribution.