TecPlata S.A., Interntational Container Terminal Services, Inc.’s business unit in Argentina, has entered into an agreement with Vessel S.A., one of Uruguay’s major feeder operators, for the operation of a new weekly service between the La Plata Port and the Port of Montevideo in Uruguay, according to ICTS's release.
The service, which will link TecPlata with Montevideo port operators Montecon and Terminal Cuenca del Plata, will allow import and export cargo to reach new markets and expand TecPlata’s services further across the Gulf Region, the U.S. East Coast, the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. It will also add to TecPlata’s already consolidated services connecting to Brazil and Asia and provide customers with new alternatives as cargo from the Santa Fe–La Plata logistics corridor can be integrated into the new service.
The new feeder connection between TecPlata and Montevideo not only aims to expand TecPlata’s services, it also looks to provide importers and exporters with more alternatives as well as improve the cost and operational efficiency of Argentine foreign trade.
The service is set to commence in July and will be operated by Vessel S.A.’s 650-TEU capacity barge Gabrielle, which also features 50 connections for reefer containers.
In October 2008, TecPlata S.A. was granted a 30-year concession to build and operate an all-purpose port terminal in the greater Buenos Aires area in Argentina by the Consorcio de Gestion del Puerto La Plata. Built with an investment of US$450 million, TecPlata is Argentina’s most modern container terminal with an initial capacity of 450,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) capacity, and capable of being extended of up to 1 million TEUs in the second phase.
Headquartered and established in 1988 in Manila, Philippines, International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) is in the business of port development, management and operations. ICTSI’s portfolio of terminals and projects are located in developed and emerging market economies in the Asia Pacific, the Americas, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa.