The Maritime Port and Naval Industry Federation of the Argentine Republic (Fempinra) rejected this Saturday the approval in the Administrative Commission of the Río de la Plata (CARP) by the Argentine Government of the deepening of access to the Uruguayan port of Montevideo to 14 meters by warning that this leaves the port of Buenos Aires "at a disadvantage."
Likewise, the Federation led by the unionist Juan Carlos Schmid pointed out that "the government of the Province of Buenos Aires adds to this nonsense, which adds to this aspiration the closure of the only federal port, which is port B in favor of the La Plata port. " , located further south than the previous ones. "This approval by Argentina is not new, we could affirm that it is historic, unfortunately," Schmid said in a statement.
The general secretary of the Dredging and Beaconing union recalled that this decision reflects an "absence of foreign policy in the La Plata Basin" on the part of Argentina. "It is not a problem that Uruguay requests the approval of the 14 meters to its main port. In reality, we should not oppose the investment and improvement of sister countries in their logistical structures, the problem is that for 25 years, due to ignorance, or hidden interests, Argentina does nothing," remarked the union leader.
Celebrate Uruguay and question Argentina
Schmid pointed out that Argentina has "the largest waterway extension on the continent with a completed concession, which demonstrated efficiency and successes in its specifications and conditions that surely, due to the experience gained, should be improved in a new tender." This nonsense is added to by the government of the Province of Buenos Aires, which adds to this aspiration the closure of the only federal port, which is the Buenos Aires port in favor of the La Plata port," he stressed.
Days ago, the Argentine Foreign Ministry confirmed that it had approved the Uruguayan request for dredging of 13 to 14 meters in the port of Montevideo and maintained that this was "possible thanks to the joint technical work" carried out by the delegations of the two countries "from of faithful observance of the Treaty of the Río de la Plata and its Maritime Front, in which the minimum and indispensable requirements that guarantee the safety of navigation in said area are preserved."
The Argentine government advocated that "projects presented in common use waters, within the scope of article 17 et seq. of the Treaty, receive an agile and expeditious evaluation, within the framework of strengthening relations of friendship, cooperation and integration between both countries" and proposed "the drafting of a protocol or mechanism to streamline the analysis procedures of this type of projects within the Commission."
In turn, the Uruguayan government celebrated that it was "a fact of absolute relevance" and noted that it was "an objective that was an express priority of the current government" of Luis Lacalle Pou as "a great step to continue developing our port system." as a regional logistics hub, and as an exit door for products from a wide region, which constitutes an achievement that will benefit the entire La Plata River basin and the Paraná-Paraguay waterway."
Fempinra warned that, with this decision by Argentina, "the port of Buenos Aires is at a disadvantage compared to its counterpart in Montevideo in the competition to become the regional Hub, which is why it will be considerably more feasible for shipping companies to end their journey in the main port of Uruguay".
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