Justice decides that within 48 hours ANTT launches operations of the Itapemirim Lines by Suzantur; Company ABC purchased 5 DDs 0 km

Publish date: December 19, 2022

In the event of non-compliance, ANTT and PGR personnel may face infringing administrative action

Adamo Bazani

Collaborated with Arthur Ferrari

Judge Joao de Oliveira Rodríguez Filho, of the First Bankruptcy and Judicial Reorganization Court of the Court of Justice of São Paulo, decided on Monday, December 19, 2022 That ANTT (National Agency for Land Transport) complies within 48 hours with the court decision allowing Suzantor to start operating the bankrupt lines in Fiação Itapemirim and Fiação Kaysara (Kaysara) in a chartered manner. The decision was obtained exclusively by Diário do Transporte also on Monday (19).

ANTT is prohibited from canceling lines that have been operated by bankrupt companies.

This does not necessarily mean that operations will begin within 48 hours. ANTT Deadline for Release Works

Still according to the decision, the LOPs (Operating Licenses) for Itapemirim and Kaissara must be valid for Suzantur operations by lease.

The judge confirmed that there was no impediment to reactivating the lines with Suzantur because they were only suspended and not cancelled.

In fact, the ownership lines of Viação Caiçara and Viação Itapemirim, both bankrupt, are only known to have been suspended, not abolished, as Susanoo, ANTT, and the judicial official have reported widely. No impediment to the reactivation of these lines has been demonstrated by the regulatory body, despite the fact that several documents have been attached to the case file.

The judge also noted that ANTT must provide a LOP (Operational License) and that ANTT’s resistance to comply with the decision that released Suzantur’s lease is not justified.

Moreover, ANTT’s unjustified resistance, which does not comply with the court’s decision, does not appeal properly, does not provide others to explore the lines, also makes the situation unsustainable for users, and does not comply with a situation such as the principles contained in Article 37 of the Federal Constitution, especially principles Give Impersonality and incompetence.

The decision also states that ANTT mode is detrimental to bus users

The position of the agency, directly prejudicial to employees and bankrupt property, while interfering with the postponement of theses to ignore the court’s decision, is within the limits of an improper administrative action by its agents, and it is unacceptable that the judiciary remain at the whim of the will of an advisory body, whose opinion does not generate any effectiveness of the authority this country.

Bus 0 km:

Suzantur confirmed Transport Diary Which, in addition to almost new buses to run the road lines, purchased five new double-decker cars.

Two, already arrived, are Scania’s three-axle chassis.

The other three are Volvo chassis, two with three axles and one with four axles.

You understand:

After accounting for taxes and debts with suppliers, banks and workers, the Itapemirim group, which has been subject to judicial recovery since March 2016, has debts amounting to R$2.2 billion. After removing the owner, Sidnei Piva de Jesus, suspected of bankruptcy and fraudulent management offenses, involving alleged transfers of illegal resources from the bus companies to establish ITA (Itapemirim Transportes Aéreos), the Itapemirim Group was declared bankrupt by the Justice Department on September 21, 2022.

In the bankruptcy decision, Judge João Oliveira Rodríguez Filho, of the Court of Justice of São Paulo, authorized the leasing of the lines and operational structures of the companies Itapemirim and Kaissara to Suzantur, a car rental company that operates urban buses in four cities of ABC Paulista (Santo André and Diadema Mauá and Ribeirão Pires) and in the municipality of São Carlos, within the state of São Paulo. The company until 2020 worked in the field of aircraft leasing as well (remember Suzantur’s end in leasing https://diariodotransporte.com.br/2020/06/29/exclusivo-grupo-comporte-da-breda-e-piracicabana-vai-assumir-servicos-e-onibus-da-suzantur-fretamento/ 🇧🇷

They objected to leasing the lines to Suzantur, ANTT Agência Nacional de Transportes Terrestres, Viação Garcia (a road bus company in the south of the country that was interested in the same lines and claimed to have made better proposals) and the Itapemirim group itself. Nor does the Itapemirim Creditors Association, a group that claims to be part of the creditors, want Suzantor to run the lines.

Itapemirim Group consists of the following companies:

– Viação Itapemirim SA (CNPJ: 27.175.975 / 0001-07;

– Transportadora Itapemirim SA (CNPJ: 33.271.511/0001-05);

– ITA Itapemirim Transportes SA (CNPJ: 34.537.845 / 0001-32);

– Imobiliária Bianca Ltda. (CNPJ: 31.814.965/0001-41);

– Cola Comercial e Distribuidora Ltda (CNPJ: 31.719.032 / 0001-75);

– Arrow SAturismo, Comércio e Industria (CNPJ: 27.075.753/0001-12);

– Viação Caicara Ltda. (CNPJ: 11.047.649/0001-84) – Luxury Brand: Kaissara

What Susanter says:

Suzantur competes with ANTT (National Agency for Land Transportation) and says it has full requirements for documentation, regularity and experience to operate the lines that are licensed to Viação Itapemirim and Viação Caiçara (Caesara).

For this, Santo André (SP) argues that:

– Tar: It has a valid TAR (Term of Authorization for Ordinary Services), valid until October 25, 2025, and therefore, after a period of one year, extendable for another year, judicial permission to operate the services in the form of a lease.

-ANTT: ANTT (National Agency for Land Transport) must not interfere with the bankruptcy decision of the Itapemirim group that allowed the lease. One reason is that, according to Suzantoor, ANTT has a role only in “regulating, supervising and inspecting the activities of providing services and operating the transportation infrastructure.”

-active: Suzantur claims to the court that the lines can indeed be considered assets of a bus company. For this purpose, ABC Paulista asserts that the lines are intangible assets (a bus company without a line to operate is worthless), that the Justice decided that the lines were necessary to bring in the resources and pay the creditors, and that there was already an expectation of disposing of the lines, which constituted the IPU (Production Unit individual), without any dispute, in 2018, by ANTT.

– TCU: Suzantur also claims that the aforementioned decision of the TCU (Federal Audit Court) on the intercity bus sector does not preclude transferring Itapemirim/Kaissara operations to its management because TCU’s position is on new lines and new markets. But the lines in question are not new and have only been suspended for Itapemirim and Kisara and have not been extinguished. In addition, in the context of this TCU, Suzantur claims that the decision does not apply to her, as she has been registered with ANTT for a long time and has valid ART until 2025.

– Investments: ABC says it has already prepared itself to operate the lines licensed to Itapemirim and Kisara and has already made the expected investments in the court’s decision. One of them was a payment of about R$400,000 for the rental and purchase of high-end buses. Itapemirim / Kaissara buses which were in derelict condition were also received and refurbished.

what do you say:

ANTT supports, in short, the following:

– active: The lines are not the assets of the approved companies – the bus companies (by law, the line belongs to the state, not the companies)

– Tar: Suzantor had a TAR (Term of Authorization for Ordinary Services) that expired on September 13, 2019 and was not renewed. On November 30, 2022, in a new petition, ANTT told the court that despite the renewal of the TAR (Term of Authorization for Ordinary Services) on October 20, 2022, valid until October 20, 2025, Suzantur has not been released to work on regular route lines. That is why, he said, Resolution No. 4770/15 is clear in establishing that the simple fact that a company has a TAR does not automatically enable it to provide services. In addition to a TAR, the agency explains, a company needs an LOP (License of Operation). And Suzantur has no LOP, according to ANTT

– Conversion: There is no way to move the lines because they are hanging

Lines: The procedure is that the lines that were licensed to Itapemirim and Caiçara were extinguished as a result of the bankruptcy decree.

– TCU: The TCU decision does not allow new markets and lines to be awarded to new operators

– Non-compliance: There are a few lines and markets without service due to Itapemirim and Kaissara being discontinued because other companies are already doing similar routes.

According to ANTT à Justiça, although Itapemirim passes through hundreds of cities in Brazil, only three municipalities are left without service alternatives for the destinations they serve: Itapemirim/ES, Limoeiro/PE and Surubim/PE.

In all other cities other companies have already made similar lines.

As for Viação Caiçara (Caesara), according to ANTT, there are only eight cities left without any interstate service to destinations operated: Afonso Claudio/ES, Catu/BA, Dias D’Avila/BA; mimoso do sol/s; Miracatu/SP, Muqui/ES. São João da Barra / RJ and Vargem Alta / ES

In the case of the 11 cities, three from Itapemirim and eight from Kisara, the agency also says the damage is not total to the passenger, as “The process can be implemented in such municipalities through the operational integration of intercity services and intermediate sections of interstate lines.”

Adamo Bazani, transport journalist

Collaborated with Arthur Ferrari