Brazil dials back freight rates amid strike threat

Brazil's infrastructure ministry submitted a request to the land transport regulator (ANTT) to temporarily suspend new freight rates amid a strike threat by truck drivers.

A government meeting has been scheduled for 6pm Brasilia time (5pm ET) today to consider the suspension of the new rates, which were announced late last week.

Infrastructure minister Tarcisio de Freitas said "a significant share of transport agents are unsatisfied" with the new freight rates, adding that "conceptual differences regarding freight rates and minimum pricing could have repercussions for the final payments to truckers."

Freitas, who has been directly involved in negotiations with truckers since taking office in January, said the government will continue to seek a consensus through dialogue.

The minimum freight rates were established in May 2018 following an 11-day truckers´ strike which disrupted transport across the country.

The ANTT said last week that it held five public hearings across the country and received more than 500 contributions as part of the process of rewriting the way the rates are calculated.

While truckers are grumbling, so are sectors that rely on truck transport. At least 60 agricultural and industry groups have filed legal appeals challenging the minimum freight rates law since May 2018. The Supreme Court has scheduled a ruling on the constitutionality of the freight law for early September.