Argentine government agency starts managing the Paraná – Paraguay waterway after concession expires

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The control and administration of the waterway that integrates in Argentina the Paraná and Paraguay rivers, key for the departure of cargo ships to the Atlantic, returned this Saturday to the hands of the Argentine state for a period of one year.

The General Administration of Ports (AGP), an agency under the Ministry of Transport of Argentina, began to manage this Saturday the Trunk Waterway (VNT), the new name for what was known as the known Paraná-Paraguay Waterway.

The concession of the waterway was in the hands of a private consortium formed by the Belgian firm Jan de Nul and the Argentinean firm Emepa.

The contract with this consortium was due to expire last April. Still, the government extended it for 90 days until finally, in July, decreeing that the AGP would take control of the waterway for one year, which became effective this Saturday.

During the next twelve months, the AGP will be responsible for managing and supervising the dredging and beaconing of the Trunk Waterway, collecting tolls from cargo vessels, and performing hydrometric controls to ensure the safety and navigability of ships.

According to a press release issued this Saturday by the AGP, for this new stage, a system “agile and safe has been implemented, which allowed to assume the administrative control of the process without delays and to guarantee the accounting operation of the main foreign trade route of the country.”

While the AGP administers the waterway for one year, the Waterway Control and Management Agency will be in charge of organizing a call for bids to award the dredging and beaconing operations of the waterway to a new operator.

The system integrated by the Paraguay and Paraná rivers is the exit route for 70% of Argentina’s exports, mainly grains and derivatives. This system transports cargo from Argentina and Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

It is also one of the longest natural waterways on the planet, with 3,442 kilometers through which some 6,000 ships transit each year. The Paraguay and Paraná river system flows into the Río de la Plata and, from there, connects with the Atlantic.