S ituated 1,200 miles up the Amazon and Rio Negro rivers
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Manaus supports a population of 1.25 million people yet has no major roads connecting it to the rest of Brazil. Instead 4,000 trailer loads of goods are brought in every month. Travelling from Sao Paolo or Rio de Janeiro on Brazil's Atlantic coast hauliers have two ways to get to Manaus. Northwards by road to Belem City at the mouth of the Amazon and then by ferry upstream to Manaus. Or westward by road to Porto Vehlo and then ferry downstream on the Madeira and Amazon. Either way the 4,000km journey takes up to five days, with the final part possible only by ferry. So why go there? Until the 1960s few hauliers had any reason to run to Manaus. Then the Brazilian Government declared it an enterprise zone; today it is a major centre for electronics and white goods production. Brasfrio, a hire or reward haulier from Rio Grande do Sul, a town in the southernmost tip of Brazil, has a regular run to
Manaus where CM met one of its drivers, Cesario Schneider. With a reefer trailer full of 200 TV sets Schneider was just getting ready to leave for Sao Paolo.
A Brazilian long-haul driver has more than just the enormous distances within Brazil to deal with. Truck hi-jackings and robberies are common. That means not driving at night, says Schneider. In the Matto Grosso region of Brazil trucks are also prohibited from running after 18:00hrs and you have to be very careful about parking.
"One of the major problems with security is that the border guards and police often help the robbers," says Schneider. On one occasion Schneider was stopped at a state border by an official who took pleasure in calling out the contents of his truck in a very loud voice. "I told him to shut up—did he want to tell the world what I was carrying?" Two months later a number of officials from the border crossing were arrested for tippingoff hijackers and splitting the loot between them. Breakdowns, often in remote areas, have to be dealt with by the driver. Many Brazilian long-haul trucks have wheel-hub tyre inflation systems fitted so they can keep a punctured tyre inflated until they can get to a suitable site for replacement. If you don't choose where you stop you never know who'll be along to help. or help themselves.