MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

• 

  Bubba

  The cocaleros will love it..

  Jul 06th, 2009 - 06:05 pm 0

• 

  Edmond

  The all-in cost of trucking low-value freight such as agricultural commodities, fertilizers, HBI iron briquettes and so on across the 4,000 meter high Andean passes is grossly uneconomic. Instead: an electrically- powered freight pipeline (cargaducto). Read below the English translation of my plan.
  
  PLAN TONDU
  
  
  FREIGHT PIPELINE TO THE PACIFIC COAST
  
  COST-EFFECTIVE SHIPPING FROM WESTERN BRAZIL AND EASTERN BOLIVIA TO PACIFIC RIM MARKETS
  
  
  A key stumbling block of the economies of Western Brazil and Eastern Bolivia is their lack of fast and cost-effective freight transportation to - and from - Pacific Rim markets. To eliminate this obstacle, Plan Tondu proposes the construction from Cuiaba (Brazil) to Antofogasta (Chile) of a multi-cargo, two-way, freight pipeline (the “Cargaducto”) within an international corridor between those cities.
  
  The joint acceptance by Bolivia, Brazil and Chile of the administrative, judicial, economic and security autonomy of the portion of said Corridor within their respective territories, also could be a politically acceptable option for satisfying Bolivia’s Access-to-the-Sea demand. With respect to said demand, the only realistic solution is an international autonomous corridor in - what was - Bolivian territory, that is, the Antofogasta region; not in - what was - Peruvian territory: Arica and Iquique.
  
  The multi-cargo, two-way, freight-only Cargaducto will consist of twin ducts through which capsules mounted on wheeled undercarriages roll on conventional rails. Each capsule will be impelled by Linear Induction Magnetic (LIM) propulsion - that is, a permanent magnet affixed to the bottom of each undercarriage plus electromagnets installed between the rails that in sequence change their polarity, thereby simultaneously pulling and pushing each undercarriage in the desired direction. Also:
  
  A Cargaducto equipped with a LIM propulsion system will permit an arrow-straight route across the Andes because its maximum acceptable up/down grade (vertical incline) is 18%, compared with 6% for trucks and 2% for railways. Its capsules will travel at 90 Km per hour on rails inside 2 meter internal diameter ducts. Air distance from Cuiaba to Antofogasta = 2,216 KM. Therefore, the elapsed travel time will be around 24½ hours. The capsules will measure 1.2m x 1.2m x 7.6m = ±11m³/7.26 metric tons capacity. For additional information, please visit: www.tubexpress.com .
  
  The freight carrying capacity of the Cargaducto will be very large. Operating at only 15% of capacity, it will transport the equivalent of 100 highway truck loads (at 22.5 tons per truck load) per hour in each direction. At full capacity this translates into 666 truck loads (± 15,000 tons) per hour in each direction - about five times the capacity of the busiest truck route in the United States.
  
  The “all-in” turnkey cost (including the rails, power system, LIM propulsion system, electronics control system and so on, but with the exception of the capsules and the stations - both of which are comparatively inexpensive) of such a Cargaducto has been estimated at USD 400 per linear foot per duct, or ±USD 2,625,000 per Km. This is for a twin-duct, 2 meter internal diameter “Cadillac” system consisting of reinforced concrete ducts buried 4 to 6 feet underground in level terrain constructed in the U.S. at U.S. union labor rates. A “Chevrolet” Cargaducto partially buried or above ground built with South American labor from reinforced fiberglass or reinforced spray-on concrete would cost a lot less. Plan Tondu estimates the “all-in” capital, cost at around USD 2,500,000 per Km for a total of approximately USD 5.5 billion.
  
  LIM propulsion is a commercially proven technology. All new roller-coasters (montañas rusas) built in the United States during the past twelve years use it. Their propulsion systems were supplied by Intamin AG of Zurich. Most of the roller-coasters were designed and built by Ballinger & Mabillard - also a Swiss firm
  
  The New York Times recently reported that during the month of February of 2006 the cost of moving soybeans from the Mato Grosso - interior Brazil’s premier soybean growing region - to Brazilian ports was USD 88 per ton; nearly six times what American farmers spend to get their beans from the Midwest to New Orleans or to Pacific ports. Delays and moisture contamination of the beans during transport within Brazil are exacerbating problems.
  
  The Times goes on to say that China’s consumption of Brazilian soybeans - and therefore its dependence on that source - is soaring. In 2006 Brazil sent nearly 11 million tons of beans to China, a 50 percent increase from the previous year and almost double the volume shipped in 2004. Clearly, a sweeping change in Brazil’s soybean transport infrastructure is essential of China is to continue and to increase its dependence on Brazilian soybeans.
  
  The multi-cargo capability of the Cargaducto will permit exports from Western Brazil (and from Eastern Bolivia) to Far Eastern markets of such value-added soybean products as frozen meats and chickens - a high-priority Brazilian national objective that is at present technically and economically impracticable.
  
  Also, completion of the Cargaducto will enable the construction along the Bolivian portion of its route of petrochemical and fertilizer plants whose products then can be exported to world markets, as well as drastically reduce the transportation costs of everything that Eastern Bolivia imports.
  
  Plan Tondu suggests the following implementation program financed by Brazil, Chile and Far Eastern countries:
  
  Agreement signed by the participating countries.
  Construction of the first 100 kilometers (with one station) of the Cargaducto to verify the technology.
  Construction of the rest of the Cargaducto, including a gas pipeline from the Bolivian gas fields to the electricity generating stations in the Corridor that power the Cargaducto.
  
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  Jul 09th, 2009 - 02:08 am 0

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