In 2020, a tender is to be issued at the Port of Buenos Aires that will see the existing five container terminal operators replaced by a single concessionaire. At present, three groups effectively control the five terminals: Terminales Río de la Plata (TRP) is owned by DP World and Argentina’s Alfredo Román and operates Terminals 1, 2 and 3 at Puerto Nuevo. APM Terminals has Terminal 4 and HPH Terminal 5.
There has already been a serious dispute between TRP and APMT this year, which was settled through a local agreement.
The government is taking some preliminary steps prior to issuing the tender. As part of a decree, the concessions for Terminals 1-4, which were due to expire in 2019, have been extended for an additional year, while a new tender is to be issued to extend the concession for Terminal 5 until 2020.
The government justifies the need for a single concession as a means of modernising existing port infrastructure, “in order to meet the new demands that arise daily in international trade in relation to cargo and ships and, thereby, not lose competitiveness compared to the rest of the ports in the region, thus facilitating … investment in infrastructure, its maintenance and in the administration of the port”.
Source:hellenicshippingnews
