A diplomatic conflict, latent in advance, erupted this weekend between Argentina and Paraguay, after the government of Mario Abdo Benitez said that the government of Alberto Fernández suspend the collection of the toll on the Paraná-Paraguay waterway, which began to apply this Sunday January 1st.
They argued that this violates the treaties and that they can take “other actions” without specifying which ones, but it follows that they would be of a juridical nature. However, senior Argentine officials and business sources not only defended the collection of the toll Rather, they explained the reasons why every ship of any flag must pay to sail through this waterway, also central to world trade, because it is an outlet for grain in the Atlantic shared between Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. For Bolivia and Paraguay it is the only access route to the sea. For Argentina there are 1,635 kilometers of vital navigation for the agro-export sector.
However, in Paraguay the clash made headlines and both officials and businessmen complained loudly. The proposal was even made formally and in writing before Santiago Cafiero, the next chancellor Julio Arriola.
Both coincided in Brasilia with their respective presidents in the framework of the hiring of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. “We will defend our rights regarding free navigability”, Arriola said after the meeting that he was flown back to Asunción but not from Buenos Aires. “For us, the navigability of our rivers 365 days a year is fundamental, given that 80% of our exports pass through this route and also 70% of our imports”, insisted Arriola.
Last Friday’s Foreign Ministry statement alluded to the tariff of $1.47 per ton for international transport and cabotage which, by resolution of the Argentine Ministry of Transport (1023/2022), has been applied since the beginning of the year. the Puerto de Santa Fe section (km 590 of the waterway) – Confluencia (km 1240) of the waterway.
Arriola convened various sectors of his country for a meeting last Monday from which only other statements came out, including from the carriers’ cameras. This Wednesday, the president of the River and Maritime Shipowners Center of Paraguay (CAFyM), Esteban Dos Santos, said that the foreign trade of that country it would have an impact of approximately $40 million annually from the application of the toll in the Argentine section and that this would affect 85% of the Paraguayan fleet destined for international cabotage.
With all, the experts consulted by this newspaper disagreed with Paraguay. On the contrary, they explained that this toll will be used for the maintenance of this important river corridor. Works that cost millions of dollars a year with dredging alone and that until now the Argentine state has subsidized and that will now pay for all the ships that sail on the Hidrovía.
“The transits of goods through the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway are regulated by the Transport Agreement signed by the member countries, which states, among many other issues, that the collection of tolls in its various sovereign sections is the prerogative of each country and is subject to the effective provision of a service that facilitates and guarantees navigation”, underlined the economist specialized in transport, ports and waterways, Antonio Sanchez-Diaz. “The Republic of Paraguay has declared the Paraguay River dredging and signaling project with toll collection in its sovereign stretch between the Apa and Pilcomayo rivers to be in the public interest. Just as Argentina does in its sovereign stretches of the Paraná River, benefiting the foreign trade cargoes of Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay that pass through them,” added Sánchez Días, who is also director of the consultancy firm Talasonomica SA.
Meanwhile, official sources have told Clarín that today, unlike what happened ten years ago, if a ship sails from one Argentine port to another Argentine port, it is paid in pesos, and if you sail in waters that are not under Argentine jurisdiction, you will pay in dollars. But the ship’s flag doesn’t matter, so consider that here “It is not a case of discrimination against Paraguay” as it is paid per area. “The neighbors’ claim is not solid”they insist.
In mid-2021 and with a presidential decree, the Government granted the General Administration of Ports (AGP) the concession for the exercise of maintenance of the signaling system and dredging and dredging activities and the related hydrological control of the Waterway Section including between the 1.238 kilometer of the Paraná River, a point called Confluencia, up to the deep water natural zone in the outer Río de la Plata. Thus ended two and a half decades of private control.
However, the government extended dredging issues. In this case, the Minister of Transport, Diego Giuliano, reported at the end of the year that the so-called AGP received the management of the main waterway of the Paraná-Paraguay waterway, within the powers of the Federal Council of waterways that include several provinces.
Giuliano reported that it has been defined that the General Administration of Ports “receives the management of the navigable section” and that it will be charged – through a tender – with carrying out “not only the dredging and signaling works, but also the expansion of the navigable section the zones”. That is to say, dredging continues to be done by private companies but the toll is levied by the nation state.
NS
Source: Clarin
