On 21 September 2026 the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) published an unscheduled update to its Brazil country travel advice. While the overall risk level for the country remains “see our advice before you travel”, the notice adds two practical warnings that directly affect corporate travellers. First, the FCDO now advises against all but essential travel on the main river corridors in the western half of Amazonas State, including the Amazon, Japurá and Rio Negro rivers. The guidance follows a series of hijackings of fuel barges and small tourist vessels in late August and an uptick in pirate activity reported by the Brazilian Navy. Logistics managers moving personnel or equipment to remote oil & gas or infrastructure projects along these waterways will have to consider air‐lifting staff to regional hubs such as Tefé or using escorted convoys organised with the Capitania dos Portos. Second, a new paragraph under “Safety and security – Taxis” warns of a sharp rise in “express-kidnapping” incidents inside unofficial cabs in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília. Victims are forced to withdraw cash or transfer funds by PIX before being released. The FCDO now explicitly recommends using only registered, metered taxis or corporate ride-hailing accounts and notes that ignoring the advice can void British business-travel insurance policies. Multinationals with duty-of-care programmes must update their ground-transport protocols and verify that local providers carry the red-plate licence required for legal operation. Although aimed at British nationals, FCDO advisories are widely used by global insurance underwriters to set premium surcharges and to decide whether a claim is “foreseeable”. Travel-risk teams should therefore cascade the new text to travelling staff and incorporate it into pre-trip briefings. Companies with river-cruise incentives in the Amazon or corporate roadshows in the North Region may have to reroute or postpone activities until security conditions stabilise. In practical terms, organisations should: (1) pre-book certified taxis through hotel or corporate apps; (2) instruct travellers not to hail cabs on the street at night; (3) review emergency cash-advance procedures in case of express-kidnapping; and (4) obtain local security-provider intelligence before approving itineraries that include river transport west of Manaus.
Source: GOV.UK – Foreign Travel Advice
