Container terminal TecPlata has launched a new barge feeder service that creates a direct link from Argentina to Brazil and Asia.
A business unit of International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI), TecPlata operates at the Argentinian ports of La Plata and Santa Fe.
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The new barge feeder service between the ports was launched on 9 December 2021.
It will have at least two calls each month between Santa Fe and La Plata, providing connectivity for a market with an estimated capacity of 80,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
Furthermore, the feeder service will act as an alternate river connection to the central, north-east and north-west regions of Argentina.
According to information released by ICTSI, the first export containers were loaded onto the Bagual, a 500TEU barge, from the Port of Santa Fe.
The first two companies to use the new service were Insuga and Adecoagro, with products exported to Vietnam and Singapore, respectively.
The cargoes were discharged in TecPlata on 13 December and were loaded onto the Log-In vessel Jacarandá two days later.
The Bagual departed from TecPlata carrying empty containers for the first exports last November.
Santa Fe Governor Omar Perottisaid: “We need this – an operator who brings the barges in at a timely manner.
“We need security in the transshipment done by the shipping companies to get to the final destination, avoiding traffic, complexity and costs in transporting the cargo by truck to the Port of Buenos Aires.”
Besides providing a lower inland cost alternative, the feeder service will also help to lower carbon emissions between Greater Buenos Aires and the Argentinian hinterland.
