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The process had been carried out by the General Administration of Ports, with bidding in dollars. But then the conditions changed
IPROFESIONAL | COMEX | PORT OF MAGDALENA
By iProfesional
08/28/2023 – 12:08 pm
Due to lack of bidders, Argentina stops key work and favors Uruguay
One of the main works promoted by the government of Alberto Fernández was left without effect. The Ministry of Transportation had held a tender for the construction of the Magdalena Canal but the deadline for interested parties to submit expired and the call was void. In Uruguay, this news went down very well because it could receive larger scale ships.
In recent years, the administration of Alberto Fernández emphasized the development of the work that would grant port sovereignty to the country and prevent fluvial transport through the Uruguayan Punta Indio canal.
The announcement of the tender was made on April 20 of this year with the presence of President Fernández, the Minister of Transportation, Diego Giuliano, and the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, among other authorities. Kicillof was precisely one of the main promoters of the construction.
It was mentioned as a fundamental work from the geopolitical, economic and sovereignty point of view. It was also stated that it would allow greater navigation speed, the transit of larger vessels and a 65% cost reduction.
Kicillof assured that the construction of the Magdalena Canal was a true historical fact. «A cargo ship in a port in the province of Buenos Aires wants to go to another Argentine port, in Buenos Aires. There are two Argentine ports, with national cargo. Today the only way to do it is going down the Paraná River and diverting towards Montevideo », he commented.
In order to connect the two national ports, he continued, you must leave Argentine jurisdiction and request authorization from the Prefecture of a foreign country.
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Governor Axel Kicillof was one of the main promoters of the construction of the Magdalena Canal
They stop a key project due to a lack of bidders
«Trade and logistics are literally broken; Our sovereignty is broken. It cannot be that to join two Argentine or Buenos Aires ports, you have to ask for permission and go through a foreign jurisdiction, "he said.
Kicillof recalled that most of the ships that arrive with imported merchandise must go through the port of Montevideo in the first instance. When these vessels have to wait for a docking place, they also do so in front of the Uruguayan port. The estimate is that US$150 million is paid between the wait, the fuel load and the food. "With the Magdalena Canal, Argentina will be able to offer all these services," said the governor.
On Monday, May 8, the Ministry of Transportation launched the tender for the construction of the Magdalena Canal. The process had been carried out in the first instance by the General Administration of Ports. As a key point, he had defined that the tender be in dollars.
However, when the proposal passed into the orbit of the Ministry of Transportation, that condition was changed. The official budget approved by Congress was $40,421 million. That generated the disinterest of the private sector. The deadline for receiving offers expired and the call was declared void.
Magdalena Canal: the Uruguayan vision
When the tender was announced, the president of the National Ports Administration (ANP), Juan Curbelo, had said that Uruguays objective was to continue strengthening the port of Montevideo.
For the Uruguayan shipping sector, the halt in the construction of the Magdalena Canal did not cause too much surprise, mainly due to the political and economic context that Argentina is going through, indicated the Uruguayan newspaper El Observador.
They agreed that managing port planning based basically in terms of sovereignty and without a logic of efficiency was not a correct path.
The sources said that with or without the Magdalena Canal, Uruguay must continue to deepen the access channel to the port of Montevideo to 14 meters and develop more infrastructure.
In this context, they highlighted the importance of having specialized container, pulp and bulk terminals. With all these elements, Montevideo will have service conditions for ships with more important calls.
Source: iprofessional |
