Uncertainty at Buenos Aires Port as concessions expire without definition of path ahead

Just under 24 hours before the expiry of the concessions for terminals at the port of Buenos Aires, uncertainty reigns over how the Argentine government will resolve this process.  Currently, the area called Puerto Nuevo is divided into three operational groups: the main one is the Rio da Prata Terminal (TRP), which operates zones 1, 2 and 3 and has DP World and the local group Román as shareholders; followed in importance by terminal 4, operated by APM Terminals and, thirdly, Hutchinson Ports, in charge of terminal 5.

Area concessions for these groups began in 1994 and have been extended several times. They expire this Friday (May 15), without any clarity about the final stance the government will take on this which could go one of two ways.  One alternative is that the state reaches an agreement with the concessionaires and the current conditions are maintained for another two years. The second would be to terminate the concessions, grant power to the AGP (General Administration of Ports of Argentina), which in effect is the national government, and convert the concessionary groups into licensees who use the terminals in which they operate.

The tension in the relationship between the TRP and APM terminals began in 2018 when Hamburg Süd joined with Maersk, which then sought to unify its local cargo in Terminal 4, operated by APM, and which has been experiencing high pressure from the TRP, for which cargo received by Maersk and Hamburg Süd represents 78% of their total operations.

Within the option of terminating the concessions, the state itself would be responsible for distributing the cargo between the three terminals, which would no longer be concessionaires but instead licensees in using the facilities that they currently operate. This option is expected to be adopted if the extension of the concessions is not agreed by Friday.

It is worth remembering that the idea of ​​the previous government, Mauricio de Macri, was to hand over the activities of the Buenos Aires maritime terminal to a single international operator. The current government, on the other hand, seeks to divide the running of the port between two operators at most, taking into account the new global economic reality and a drop of almost 30% in the volumes handled by the port, a phenomenon accentuated by the Covid-19 crisis.

Source: Mundo Marítimo

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