The port of Zárate accumulates 30,000 imported cars awaiting entry clearance

The slow commissioning of the new economic team that leads Serge Massa is generating unexpected inconvenience for car companies: the country’s main port terminal from which vehicles are exported is overwhelmed by imported cars awaiting authorization to enter the country.

This situation will not only end up resulting in more delays in the acquisition of vehicles at local dealerships: in addition, as the yards are crowded, there is hardly any space left to unload vehicles arriving in the opposite direction, to be shipped. with export destination.

The scene of that bottleneck is there Zarate terminal, the private port where most of the foreign vehicle trade is concentrated. On Thursday, the company sent an internal communication to its customers, in which it warned that more than a month ago, even before Massa took office as minister, that the government does not authorize the importation of a single vehicle.

Since Alberto Fernández took office, the import of vehicles has gone from being automatic to applying for “non-automatic” import licenses, under the Complete import monitoring system (IF MINE).

That managed trade was until last month under the same official’s orbit: ariel schaleon whose company the SIMI depended for more than two and a half years.

Schale was Secretary of Industry, under the Ministry of Productive Development of Matias Kulfaand continued in his position during the brief administration of the Daniele Scioli. From that position he managed the import authorizations for vehicles, with a relationship that was becoming ever closer since the dollars were short.

With the resignation of Schale, car manufacturers were left without an interlocutor overnight. Massa reduced the Ministry of Productive Development to a secretariat, which was left in office José Ignacio de Mendiguren.

The “Basque” Mendiguren, former president of the Industrial Union and current director of the manufacturing entity, he warned that he does not want to have conflicts with his peers in the industry e He passed the SIMI ball to his colleague from Commerce, Matías Tombolini.

But so far, three weeks after taking charge of the new economic team, the import of a single vehicle has not been authorized. Instead, as they have assured Clarione automotive terminal executives, the import of parts for production continues to be authorized.

But while the SIMI for vehicles is at a standstill, the ships that bring them from Brazil and other countries they kept coming and unloading their goods. And now the Zárate Terminal is full: according to industry sources, they are there accumulated about 30,000 vehicles.

“This becomes even more evident at the present time, considering that it is a problem that is affecting all automotive plants equally, since since the second half of July no vehicles have been released (SIMI homologation failure)“, said Terminal Zárate, in an internal communication.

The company added that if this situation persists, the next step will be that the cars cannot be exported.

“Given the conditions of restriction on import processes and the lack of releases recorded in the last month, the normal functioning of subsequent shipments may be jeopardized / hindered by the delay in disembarking the ships“, Says the internal note, to which Clarín had access.

To the Secretariat of Commerce, the SIMI issue not yet activated. The companies have had as their interlocutor, in recent weeks, the undersecretary designated for Commercial Policy and Management, German Cervantes. But for now his task has been limited to the right take note of companies’ import orders.

“There is a good dialogue and we also understand that they are testing the ground”, they said in one of the four terminals consulted by this newspaper, which confirmed the situation. “But the situation is becoming difficult. We have already been told that if the beaches of Zárate do not start to be released this weekend, there will be no room to export“.