Inland waterways

The national government confirmed the purchase of 30 liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships that will call at the regasification port of Escobar, on the Paraná de las Palmas river.

There will be 30 regasification vessels with priority of passage. This means that every time one of these vessels enters the system, it will have channel priority. While circulating towards the port or after leaving it, the other vessels will have to remain at anchor and without movement.

These delays will affect agro-export logistics with increased freight rates and reduced competitiveness.

On the other hand, there is fear that one of these ships may run aground while passing through the narrow Punta Indio Channel, as in 2021, the grounding of a gas tanker in the Punta Indio Channel blocked Argentina’s trade with the world for almost a day, which caused a major logistical disaster.

For this reason, it is urgent that the dredging of the Paraná Guazú be carried out.

With this variant, instead of going down the Paraná de las Palmas and the Emilio Mitre Canal as they do at present, the ships would go up to Bifurcación to take the Paraná Guazú and continue through the Canals to Martín García to the Río de la Plata.

Source: El Cronista Newspaper.