Argentina’s key grain port hit by strike over vaccine access

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina’s main grain port of Rosario experienced disruptions Friday due to a 48-hour strike by tugboat captains and other workers handling the flow of agricultural ships demanding access to Covid-19 vaccines, according to port officials.

Seven vessels, six of them large Panamax-class cargo ships that had been loaded with soy and other agricultural products, were stranded at their docks, unable to embark because of the dropping water level of the Parana River in Rosario, according to three chambers representing port workers.

The Rosario port center is Argentina’s main hub, as around 80% of the country’s agricultural products are shipped from there.

The unions, who demand to be classified as “essential” to be eligible for coronavirus vaccines, halted activity from Tuesday afternoon until Thursday and warned that another 48-hour strike will be held next week unless the government adequately addresses their concerns.

“The strike created a total collapse of logistics, causing congestion at anchorages and making it impossible for new ships to reach the port for loading,” said The Chamber of Private Commercial Ports, the Rosario Maritime Center and the Chamber of Port and Maritime Activities.

The entities asked the Ministry of Transportation to help unblock the situation, while port authorities try to unload part of the cargo of the seven ships so they can sail in the shallow Parana river, which has been depleted by dry weather in Brazil.

Argentine producers are currently in full harvest of soybeans and corn for the 2020/21 season.

The South American nation is the world’s third largest exporter of corn and the first largest exporter of soybean meal and oil, used as feed for pigs and poultry from Europe to Southeast Asia.