ROSARIO: Unlike past years, containerized cargo is now taken from Rosario to Brazil, transhipped and taken to any international destination without going through BA.
The port of Rosario has started to reap the benefits of policies launched seven years ago and now a container takes two days less to make it to Rotterdam than if sent from Buenos Aires, “a world of a difference.”
“Before 2008, when containers arrived to Rosario’s Multipurpose Terminal, they had to be transshipped onto barges taking them to Buenos Aires,” said Ángel Elías, the Chairman of ENAPRO, the public, non-state agency running the Rosario port.
But a change in the political atmosphere since Socialist Hermes Binner (2007-2011) was elected governor of Santa Fe province led to the arrival of a Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) vessel soon afterwards, turning Rosario into a seafaring port, he added.
“Now, containerized cargo is taken to Brazil, where it is transferred onto other ships that take it to any international destination without the need of going through Buenos Aires. The cargo clears customs in Rosario itself,” he told the Herald in an interview elaborating on a previous press report.
Infrastructure improvements and a better political environment have prompted Hamburg Süd to also start arriving at Rosario four months ago and, with this company’s connections in Brazil, a container takes two days less to make it to Rotterdam than if sent from Buenos Aires, Ángel said. “For some days now Hamburg Süd has been calling at our ports regularly,” he added.
Ángel represents Santa Governor in ENAPRO. He has one of the two public votes on the board. The other one corresponds to the Rosario mayor. Most parties on the board are private ones: exporters, concessionnaires, shipping companies, service providers and workers. Santa Fe is a Socialist stronghold but Binner could only become governor after 24 years of Peronist administrations, after the controversial ley de lemas that allowed the leading Peronist candidates to take on the votes of his fellow Peronist rivals was scrapped in 2007. He was succeeded in 2011 by fellow Socialist Antonio Bonfatti. Argentina is holding general elections in October.
The province of Santa Fe has an 800-kilometre coastline on the River Paraná. The port of Rosario, some 300 kilometres northwest of Buenos Aires, is located on a long stretch of about 70 kilometres. It also houses more than 20 private harbours in an area known as the Greater Rosario Port Complex. The area accounts for about 75 percent of Argentina’s grain exports.
ENAPRO runs three terminals, all playing a public service role: The Grain Terminal (given in concession to the Sepor SA company), the Multipurpose Terminal operated under concession by Terminal Puerto Rosario SA (TPR), and the Fluvial Terminal. Together, the three account for about 1,000 jobs.
The Multipurpose Terminal is handling mainly containers although it also handles bulk cargo, liquids and, after a recent test, it will start handling cars in the near future, Ángel said.
According to 2013 data, nearly 10 percent of the Greater Rosario Port Complex total exports is accounted for by the public terminals. “A huge chunk,” he said.
Public terminals are increasingly being used by cooperatives and smaller producers who partner to export, for example, cargoes of between 3,000 and 3,500 tones — not the 50,000 tons usually loaded onto bulk carriers — without having to resort to private terminals. Some of the smaller cargoes are exported in containers.
The Multipurpose Terminal has two new 100-ton Post-Panamax cranes with a combined capacity of 36 operations per hour, and a versatility that allows them to handle containerized or general cargo as well as bulk cargo. Regarding container operations within the terminal, two new Reach Stacker units have been incorporated. They allow a quick handling of containers and piling them up to up to five of them.
“We are very interested in strengthening Rosario’s container capacity. A strong container terminal would allow us to export not just commodities but also added-value products from the central, north-east and north-west regions,” Ángel said.
He also underlined that, in 2009, the local group Vicentin bought a stake in terminal Puerto Rosario though an affiliate to later on get a direct participation. Vicentin has a 70 percent stake, while the remaining 30 percent is in the hands of Chilean group Ultramar.
“The prestige of these groups drew investments between US$16-20 million,” Ángel said. Also, in the grain terminal one of the two docks — idle since 2005 — is being revamped, as is an access road, at a total cost of about 70 million pesos.”
Regarding bulk cargo, the terminal has made a huge investment to incorporate state-of-the-art equipment to complete the truck-vessel sequence through the use of Unloaders, Jump conveyors and Shiploaders.
This equipment allows to handle 1,000 tons/hour with great flexibility and ensures product quality. To unload bulk cargo from barges, state-of-the art Sennebogen, equipment has been incorporated. It can handle 500 tons/hour.
The TPR has also become the only port in South America and the third in the world to have incorporated the ROTABOX system whereby 20-feet containers are loaded from atop by means of rotating spreaders.
“There is an increasing trend to export special grains (i.e. seed) by means of this kind of container as this practice suits countries with high-tech logistics,” Ángel said. “Furthermore, this is a clean and environmentally friendly solution for grains or flours as the cargo never touches the ground.”
As another hallmark, Ángel highlighted that carmaker General Motors’ Fénix project required that MSC and Hamburg Süd manage the whole parts logistics through a strategic accord with TPR to centralize operations. “The Fénix Project involves about 10,000 TEUs a year, a level to be attained gradually. TPR has become a GM supplier on the strength of the investments and a peace accord reached some two months ago with the SUPA stevedores union for two years.
“The parties have agreed that until 2017 any negotiation will be conducted without resorting to actions that may disrupt the operation of the port’s terminals I and II, in an effort to turn Rosario into the leading port of the Hidrovía,” he said.
The 4,000-kilometre plus Paraná-Paraguay waterway (Hidrovía) starts in Puerto Cáceres, Brazil, and formally ends in Nueva Palmira, Uruguay, although the River Plate, shared by Argentina and Uruguay, is in real terms its final tranche.
