b'6American Journal ofTransportation ajot.com(TOUGHcontinued fromwasabitbelow500,000(EXPANSIONcontinuedwithout controversy. The Uru- ing port services to Uruguays page 4) TEUs and Rio Grande wasfrom page 4) guayanpublicbecamefix- foreigntrade.Sofar,how-Its a very, very expen- 666,000 TEUs. Rio Grandeguayan exporters. ated on the 50-year extension.ever, it has continued to work sivecallfortheshippingisclosertoMontevideo,ThisdecisioncameasManygovernmentopponentsin the port and now appears lines to make, both in termsjust 300 nautical miles (345Montevideowasmakingacharged the new contract wastobeshiftingemphasisto of direct dollars, but also inmiles)away,anditsalsobig push to beef up its marinea sweetheart deal, negotiated innon-containerized traffic.terms of time, said MichaelneartheUruguayanborderinfrastructure.Mostnotably,the dark, and one that sold outUnder the old arrangement, KaasnerKristiansen,presi- (and the Argentine border astheFinnishpaperandpulpthe countrys sovereignty for ahowever, Montecon severely dent of the maritime consul- well.)ItsmakinganeffortmanufacturerUPMiscon- half-century. Opposition sena- ate into TCPs market share, tancy CK Americas. Buenosto attract Uruguayan exports,structinganewpulpexporttors filed a complaint with thea situation that both unfairly Aires costs a fortune in pilots,notablymeatandcellulose.terminalattheport.Sched- attorney general alleging crimi- hobbled Katoen Natie and ill-tugboats, money that you payThiseffortwasaidedbyuledtobecompletedthisnal behavior. served Uruguay as a whole, for access to the port. recurring labor strife last yearyear,the$280millionter- Montecon will suffer. Itssaid Kaasner Kristiansen. He TheBuenosAiresportinMontevideo,largelytheminalcomplexwillincludecontainerhandlingisnowpointed out that a number of terminals themselves are over- result of the new agreementaquayandsixhectaresofexpresslylimitedtowhenportsinLatin Americahave builtforthetrafficandarebetween the Uruguayan gov- warehousespace.ItcanTCP is unable to do the workjust a single operator. Sacrific-highlyinefficientaswell.ernment and Katoen Natie. Inhandle up to 100 vessels andbecause of operational limita- ing free competition in order The area supports five termi- 2020,RioGrandefinishedwill link by a rail, also undertions or capacity issues. Mon- to get the right infrastructure nals, although two are inactive.a dredging project that deep- construction, to UPMs enor- tecon reacted with predictabletobenefitfromthat,Ithink Buenos Aires has the distinc- ened its channel to 15 metersmousnewgreenfieldeuca- fury.Itcalledthedecreesthat needs to be considered in tion in Latin America of having(49feet),makingtheport,lyptuspulpmillnowbeingenshriningthenewtermsevery place, he said.the most terminals in one area,alreadyconsideredBrazilsbuiltincentralUruguay.Aillegal and the new arrange- What made the previous said Kaasner Kristiansen.mostefficient,moreattrac- new access road to the port ismentadefactomonopolycannibalizing more damaging In 2018, the governmenttive to bigger vessels.now under construction.which [the Minister of Trans- was that for Montevideo port unveiled an ambitious plan toItapoandRioGrandeport] is illegal trying to estab- to succeed, it needs to serve modernizetheport,awardaare very successful ports, andB eyondA rBitrAtion lish in favor of TCP. morethanmerelydomestic single concession and increasethey will definitely be strongWhile the arbitration agree- Monteconsaidthatitimportsandexports.We capacity from 1.4 million TEUcompetitorswithusinthementremovedsomeuncer- was no longer asking to be(EXPANSIONcontinued to 3.1 million TEU. Instead, infuture, said Vandecauter. tainty from the port, it wasntallowedtocontinueprovid- on page 16)May2020,thegovernment extendedalltheconcessions fortwoyears.Thoseexten-sionsendnextmonthand theresnoreasontobelieve theywontbeextendedfor another two years.Add to all this labor issues, exacerbated by political and economicinstability,includ-ing hyper-inflation, which last year topped 50%.Montevideocantake advantageofthoseweak-nessesofArgentina,said Vincent Vandecauter, general managerofKatoenNatie, the principal shareholder and operatoroftheMontevideo container port. If you can be more productive, if you can offer better results, if you can offer better infrastructure, very fluent administrative process, then you will be able to cap-ture volume.Santos: Brazils biggest port tells another story altogether. First of all, the volume of its business last year topped 4.8 millionTEU,whichdwarfs Montevideos. It serves Latin Americasbiggestdomestic market, with more than 200 millionconsumers,andis convenient to the nearby So Paolomegalopolis.Itsship-pingroutesarewellestab-lished.Santosservesasa first stop for most of the lines beforetheyheadtoMon-tevideo,BuenosAires,and smaller Brazilian ports.Because of this primacy, itsdifficulttoseeSantos losing market share to Mon-tevideo, except perhaps on the margin, with a bit more trans-shipmentfromMontevideo intoBrazilsborderregions. However, either a feeder ser-vice from or trucking directly intoBrazilmeansaborder crossing, which adds another stepand delay and poten-tial costto the process.Itapo and Rio Grande: These smaller Brazilian ports south of Santos are somewhat comparableinsizetoMon-tevideo.Lastyear,Itapo'