Delivery of the Port of Buenos Aires to a single operator in jeopardy

Although the authorities have kept the process schedule and the government ensures that the bidding for the delivery of the Port of Buenos Aires to a single operator will happen, there are likely to be delays or even the possible cancellation of the process. The opening of the bidding envelopes was postponed to eight days before the presidency change.

In fact, several sectors related to port activities in Argentina believe that the opening of the envelopes with the offers might only take place in May of next year with the purpose of making the new president, who takes over on December 10th, make the decision to continue with a single operator plan or give up and study a new model.

Some experts argue that Front for All will seek to drastically change the project advocated by Mauricio Macri’s government to hand over the five terminals to a single operator.

Currently, port activities are divided into four terminals. These include the Rio de la Plata Terminals (TRP), responsible for the Puerto Nuevo zones 1, 2, and 3 and constituted by Dubai Ports Word and the Alfredo Román group, Maersk, responsible for Terminal 4, and Hutchinson Ports, which controls Terminal 5.

As part of the bidding process, everyone must surrender their concessions by 2020, according to a Resolution from the Ministry of Transport of the Nation published in the Official Bulletin in December last year.

However, there is talk of the possibility of extending this period until May 2021. That is, adding a year to the eventual possibility that the whole bidding process might be delayed or frozen due to the changing political landscape.

So far, it is known that the General Port Administration led by Gonzalo Mórtola has postponed the opening of the envelopes with offers from October 2 to December 2. A choice that, although not disclosed by the professional, is linked to the current political and electoral situation.

This change was the one that generated the most noise in the market, especially considering that the names of the candidate groups to remain in business will be known only eight days before the elections.

Source: Trade News (Emiliano Galli)

Sharing is caring!