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CEPA President Oscar Fortunato does not see an easy way out to the shipping problem of Mar del Plata. (Photo: MAA/FIS)
Attempts made to reverse shipping firms' call
(ARGENTINA, 2/10/2010)
This Tuesday negotiations were kicked off in an attempt to encourage the shipping firms Maersk and Hamburg Sud to review their decision to cease docking their container ships at the Mar del Plata port. The two companies argued that operating in this Buenos Aires port was economically unviable.
“We see ourselves forced to try to balance the warehouse supply with demand to manage to reduce our operating costs and be able to continue offering coverage in the ports of Patagonia,” indicated both companies in an official statement.
This suspension of entry of container ships to the Mar del Plata terminal has sent shock waves through the corporate sector, which warned of rises in the price of fish and shellfish exports, among other issues.
The Argentine Secretary of Transport, Juan Pablo Schiavi, is planning to meet with shipping line representatives, to hear their arguments and try to persuade them not to abandon the Buenos Aires port terminal.
“I do not see an easy way out of this problem. The reality is that freight at the international level has dropped off. Companies are optimising zones. There is no doubt about it,” Oscar Fortunato, president of the Council of Argentine Fisheries Firms (CEPA), told Pescare.
“In any case, we are asking for the municipal, provincial and federal authorities to augment their efforts so that the port does not lose the container ships,” he added.
One of the alternatives would involve companies shipping their goods by land to the port of Buenos Aires, from where they could head off for destinations overseas.
“Companies are preparing to send their cargo to Capital [Buenos Aires], but this increases our costs, prolongs collection times and increases the insecurity that is inherent in transport by roadway,” observed CEPA’s president.
Meanwhile, Communal Production Secretary Horacio Tettamanti, maintained that the matter must be taken up by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. “The shipping lines must be forced to fulfill the service,” he stressed.
Related article:
- Two shipping firms suspend Mar del Plata route
By Analia Murias
[email protected]
www.seafood.media
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