July 02nd – River Parana Draft

July 02nd 2020

River Parana Draft

In view of the ongoing developing situation and different communications and instructions being issued by Sanitary Authorities of the Argentine Government we have chosen to send a consolidated daily report at the closing of working hours with an update of the day’s news.

National Holiday: Thursday, July 09th, Independence Day and Friday July 10th “Bridge Holiday”.

*** IMPORTANT *** Recalada/Zona Comun. New procedures for arriving vessels:As from Sunday June 14th, the CoastGuard medics will not be attending at Recalada. Until then the medics would board inbound vessels at anchorage Recalada prior boarding pilots. The change is that now medics are boarding vessels at Zona Comun, but only as from 0900 hours. It means that now the preliminary inspection has added cost. Each vessel must pay a launch service for the attending medics and additionally the pilots charge an anchoring fee. This will amount to additional cost as follows:
USD 1,200.00 launch service, Monday to Friday. Saturdays, Sundays and National Holidays USD 1,680.00

plus

USD ——– Pilot’s anchoring fee calculated as follows: USD 14.00 per Fiscal Unit of the vessel. FUs are calculated basis (LOA x Beam x Molded depth)/800.

The latest instruction is that inbound vessels will sail from Recalada so as to arrive at Zona Comun approximately 0800 hours so as to be inspected during daylight hours. On the other hand most vessels arriving at Recalada with more than 14 days since last port of call are frequently allowed to proceed to load port without stoppage.

Crew changes: Crew changes in Argentina and Uruguay are not possible TODAY. The European Union has announced that flights from Uruguay will be allowed to enter when they are resumed. When this is specified and flight schedules are pre-advised we will keep you posted. For Argentina there are no formal changes yet. Some airlines are planning a return soon to schedule flights due to start rolling in as from early July. Air France being the first.

Recalada: Recalada closes often due to swell and high winds. Usual during the early winter months.

Necochea: The port was opened today, July 02nd at 0830 with reduced swell and wind.

Bahia Blanca: Pilotage service is being rendered normally.

River Parana draft. Forecast and recommendation: At the Parana River Ports for the coming months July-August-September the maximum allowed sailing draft would be fluctuating around 10 meters. It is expected to range 30 centimeters above and below this level. It is not expected much from rains in South Brazil but the dredging work aimed to keep a navigation draft on above mentioned levels. Below Rosario and the more downstream, the water level is influenced by the wind and tides in the River Plate. S-SE winds will improve draft values.

Vicentin: The push and pull continues between all the interested parties. Today a news flash reported that Vicentin’s port had been closed by Authorities. This is true but basically not important. The Vicentin port that was closed was a barge mooring facility, on the River Parana, at Km 949, in the port of Reconquista. For your guidance, San Lorenzo is at Km 440 of the River Parana. This added to the very low level of water on the river makes the port of little use over the last year. It was more of a political gesture than anything else.

Vicentin.

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Export licenses: Today, July 02nd was another busy day for maize. Licenses were issued for 438,000 metric tons of maize, 42,300 metric tons of soy meal, 26,000 metric tons of soy oil and 20,200 metric tons of soya beans.
We attach to this circular a consolidated report of all export licenses issued during the month of June. This is prepared by Messrs BK News Services.

Maize, soya meal and soya beans: At Upriver ports and terminals the reported input of trucks was 3,102, of those 1,661 were maize. No report from Bahia Blanca.

Covid-19 National Quarantine: As from July 01st and until July 17th Buenos Aires and the suburbs are being subjected to very strict quarantine.
The Province of Santa Fe has been relaxing the restrictions. This includes Arroyo Seco, Rosario, San Lorenzo and Timbues. But this means that all persons coming from City and Province of Buenos Aires will be subjected to a 14 day quarantine before being allowed to take up residence, even if it is for only one night. All towns have restricted access. Over the last few days vessels calling in the area have had to suspend or ask for extension to surveys because surveyors come from Buenos Aires.
One solution to this, although partial, is that a remote survey is carried out which allows the vessel to be granted an interim extension to be granted by Class and Flag.

Will keep you posted.

Best regards,
Antares Servicios Maritimos S.A.

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