CPB Corporate Partnership Board The Container Port of Buenos Aires in the Mega-Ship Era 169 Roundtable Discussion Paper Olaf Merk International Transport Forum CPB Corporate Partnership Board The Container Port of Buenos Aires in the Mega-Ship Era 169 Roundtable Discussion Paper Olaf Merk International Transport Forum The International Transport Forum The International Transport Forum is an intergovernmental organisation with 59 member countries. It acts as a think tank for transport policy and organises the Annual Summit of transport ministers. ITF is the only global body that covers all transport modes. The ITF is politically autonomous and administratively integrated with the OECD. The ITF works for transport policies that improve peoples’ lives. Our mission is to foster a deeper understanding of the role of transport in economic growth, environmental sustainability and social inclusion and to raise the public profile of transport policy. 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THE CONTAINER PORT OF BUENOS AIRES IN THE MEGA-SHIP ERA | DISCUSSION PAPER | ITF ROUNDTABLE 169 Acknowledgements This paper is written by Olaf Merk. It draws on contributions by Julie Lannou. Valuable comments on a draft version of this paper were provided by Stephen Perkins, Trevor Heaver, Dario Gonzalez, Andreas Meyer and Antonio Zuidwijk. The paper also benefits from discussions at the ITF Roundtable on Container Port Strategy, organised in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in April 2017: https://www.itf-oecd.org/container-port-strategy-roundtable. © OECD/ITF 2018 3 THE CONTAINER PORT OF BUENOS AIRES IN THE MEGA-SHIP ERA | DISCUSSION PAPER | ITF ROUNDTABLE 169 Table of contents Performance of the container port of Buenos Aires .............................................................................. 5 Outlook of the container port of Buenos Aires ................................................................................. 5 Performance of the port of Buenos Aires ....................................................................................... 10 Future requirements for container ports ............................................................................................. 14 Future trade projections .................................................................................................................. 14 Container ship size ........................................................................................................................... 15 Industry consolidation and alliances ............................................................................................... 19 Regional port competition ............................................................................................................... 19 Policies to adapt to future requirements ............................................................................................. 21 Current policies ................................................................................................................................ 21 How well are policies adapted to future requirements? ................................................................ 23 Suggestions for policy ...................................................................................................................... 25 Notes .................................................................................................................................................... 26 References ........................................................................................................................................... 27 4 © OECD/ITF 2018 THE CONTAINER PORT OF BUENOS AIRES IN THE MEGA-SHIP ERA | DISCUSSION PAPER | ITF ROUNDTABLE 169 Performance of the container port of Buenos Aires The port of Buenos Aires is the main container port of the country, handling 85% of the nation’s containers. The port is the main cargo entry point for the province of Buenos Aires, where most of Argentina’s population, economic activity and manufacturing activity is concentrated. The province alone accounts for 37% of the national exports, but the port plays a role for the whole country, with hinterlands that extend to many other parts of Argentina. This paper answers three questions: What are the characteristics of this port? How does it perform, and what are its main challenges? Outlook of the container port of Buenos Aires The port of Buenos Aires is very urban. It is located on the River Plate surrounded by the agglomeration of Buenos Aires, home to around 14 million people. Buenos Aires accounts for one-third of Argentina’s population, with a density of 5 000 people per km2. Since the port reforms in the 1990s, the port of Buenos Aires consists of two parts: Puerto Nuevo and Dock Sud, which have separate locations and institutional structures.1 Puerto Nuevo is inserted in the north-east of a very central urban area, at the heart of the city, the core of offices, government and financial institutions. Further south is Dock Sud, located outside the boundaries of the city of Buenos Aires, and more industrial in character, but still part of the larger agglomeration of Buenos Aires (Figure 1). The port is located upstream in the River Plate (Rio de la Plata) estuary. It is a shallow estuary with depths that mostly range from 3 to 5 metres. In order to access it, ships need to navigate in a 239 km long access channel, which is limited in depth and width, to a greater or lesser extent depending on the specific part of the channel (Figure 2). The last few kilometres of the channel, the Canal Norte leading to Porto Nuevo and Canal Sur leading to Dock Sud, are the most constrained parts of the channel, with around 60-80 metres width and 9.75 metres depth. The access channels in the River Plate need dredging, which is carried out by the company Hidrovia S.A. that dredges the main channels (Emilio Mitre, Acceso, Intermedio and Punta Indio), which is covered by tolls from the passing cargo ships. The North and South channels are subject to tenders by each port (Puerto Nuevo and Dock Sud) and there is no direct toll on them. The constraint of depth and related dredging costs distinguishes the port of Buenos Aires from the Uruguayan port of Montevideo that is located further downstream and in particular from the Brazilian port of Santos that has deep sea access. © OECD/ITF 2018 5 THE CONTAINER PORT OF BUENOS AIRES IN THE MEGA-SHIP ERA | DISCUSSION PAPER | ITF ROUNDTABLE 169 Figure 1. Buenos Aires and its two ports Figure 2. The River Plate Estuary and its ports Note: Access channel indicated by the black lines in the river estuary. The access channel to La Plata is not included in this picture. 6 © OECD/ITF 2018 THE CONTAINER PORT OF BUENOS AIRES IN THE MEGA-SHIP ERA | DISCUSSUION PAPER | ITF ROUNDTABLE 169 The port of Buenos Aires handled 1.4 million TEUs in 2015, which represents 85% of the nation’s maritime container traffic. This market share of Buenos Aires has declined over the last decade from 95% in 2006. Total container volume in Argentina has fluctuated somewhat over the last decade, but its level in 2015 was slightly below the 2006 level, which was 1.7 million TEU (Figure 3). The second container port in