THE business unit of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) in Argentina has launched a new barge feeder service that creates a new and direct link to Brazil and Asia.
ICTSI said in a statement on Monday that TecPlata S.A., its business unit operating at the Port of La Plata, Argentina, and the Port of Sta. Fe introduced the new feeder service on Dec. 9.
“The service will have a minimum of two calls per month between Sta. Fe and La Plata that will provide superior connectivity for a market estimated at 80,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). It also serves as an alternative river connection to Argentina’s central, northeast and northwest regions,” ICTSI said.
“Aside from providing a lower inland cost alternative, the exclusive feeder service also contributes significantly to the reduction of carbon emissions between Greater Buenos Aires and the country’s hinterland,” the company added.
According to ICTSI, Insuga S.A. and Adecoagro S.A were the first companies to use the new feeder service to export bone meal to Vietnam and milk powder to Singapore, respectively.
“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,” Sta. Fe Governor Omar Perotti said during the event that marked the first connection between the two container terminals. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave