ANTAQ Inspects Amazon River Crossings Hit by Drought

Brazil's National Waterway Transportation Agency (ANTAQ) stepped up its monitoring of navigation conditions on the Amazon River due to the effects of the drought. On Tuesday, October 20, agency teams carried out coordinated technical visits to the Igapó-Açu and Manaus–Careiro da Várzea crossings, with the participation of ANTAQ's Director-General, Frederico Dias, to assess the state of services and the risks to the continuity of operations in the region.

On the Manaus–Careiro da Várzea crossing, located along the BR-319 corridor, a sandbar was found forming in the navigation channel, altering vessel passage and potentially requiring dredging work. The condition of the loading and unloading ramps was also surveyed, as they may need adjustments due to receding water levels. During the visit, the operation of Consorcio Rio Negro SPE was also observed, selected through ANTAQ's Public Call No. 01/2026 for the transport of vehicles and passengers on that crossing.

The inspections included dialogue with operators and with representatives of the agencies responsible for waterway infrastructure, including Brazil's National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT), with the aim of identifying difficulties and discussing measures to reduce the impact of the drought on the transport of passengers, vehicles, and cargo. Frederico Dias noted that the agency seeks to get ahead of situations that could jeopardize service provision and that it maintains an ongoing dialogue with DNIT and operators to build solutions that help reduce the impact on the population.

Days later, Dias indicated that navigation conditions in northern Brazil should begin to normalize toward the end of November, as the decline in river levels slows. According to his projections, under a medium-case scenario, recovery would begin in the fourth week of November, after the daily drop in the level of the Rio Negro eased from 13 to 7 centimeters. Dias also mentioned that dredging carried out by DNIT between Manaus and Itacoatiara increased the depth at the critical point by 1.2 meters, which helped reduce the impact of the low water on navigation.