TecPlata SA, which operates a multipurpose terminal in Buenos Aires in Argentina, has begun handling import shipments bound for the Buenos Aires La Plata Free Zone (BAZFLP).
TecPlata last month received and processed a shipment from Brazil that was picked up by a company located in BAZFLP, which is located 5 kilometers away from the terminal.
Around 90 percent of free zone trade in Argentina passes through BAZFLP, which has 100 direct and 3,400 indirect users. The logistics center is located in the town of Ensenada, about 60 kilometers away from Buenos Aires, and is highly accessible via land and river.
In 2008 TecPlata, a subsidiary of global port operator International Container Terminal Services, Inc., was granted a 30-year concession by the Consorcio de Gestion del Puerto La Plata to build and operate an all-purpose port terminal in the greater Buenos Aires area.
With a construction cost of US$450 million, TecPlata is Argentina’s most modern container terminal with an initial capacity of 450,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), which can be extended up to 1 million TEUs in the second phase.
The terminal continues to position itself as an alternative to the Port of Buenos Aires. In July last year, TecPlata signed a cargo-handling agreement with petrochemical companies YPF and an Argentine subsidiary of Dow. This was followed by a partnership with Evergreen to launch a new service to Asia and the Far East early this year. In June, TecPlata received its first reefer container for the export of garlic to Brazil.
