October 07th – National Holidays


October 07th 2021

National Holidays

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.

ANTARES: We attach to this News a flyer with the full detail of all our staff for your ready reference. Both for our office in Buenos Aires and for San Lorenzo (Upriver).

Week end duty staff: (Friday noon, October 08th, until Monday, 0800 hrs, October 12th)

– HQ Buenos Aires:

Horacio Vazquez +54 9 11 5578 4554

German Stoppo +54 9 11 6434 1673

Upriver:

Pablo Andres Faggiani +54 9 11 3156 1681

Agustin More +54 9 11 6656 1677

Sebastian Simonella +54 9 11 6434 1674

Walter Nestor Travaglini +54 9 11 3156 1680

National Holidays: Friday, October 08th, and Monday October 11th, 2021.

Crew changes in Argentina: The Government has announced that crew changes are to be allowed starting October 20th. For the moment, details of procedures for departing and boarding crew have not yet been published. Soonest they are available we will advise.

Necochea – Quarantine period: An agreement has been reached at Necochea and as from Friday October 01st THE 14 DAYS QUARANTINE ON VESSELS COMING FROM FOREIGN PORTS OF CALL IS NO LONGER REQUIRED. This brings the port back into line with the rest of the country.

River Parana draft: There has been some rainfall over the Parana River catchment area and so9me slight improvement can be expected during the closer term. Only if the rain is maintained can a longer term improvement of the water levels at Upriver be expected.


The water levels in the River and at Upriver ports are now principally regulated by the dams in South Brazil, Paraguay and Northern Argentina. Tidal conditions in the River Plate that cause a “back up” effect and reduce the out flow of water bringing the draft to better levels also help over a few days. We urge you to consult prior load completion of vessels bringing inbound cargoes to Upriver ports.

Ushuaia: Preliminary work has begun on the extension of the pier. This will allow further capacity for all vessels calling, specially cruise ships during the southern hemisphere summer as well as Antarctic supply vessels. Studies are underway for the next two weeks prior to initiating the construction process.

Bahia Blanca – Tug service: Tug boats are now working for 12 hours per day, every day. The 12 hour work period will be counted as from the first service of the day. After this period is finished there will be no further services during the next 12 hours. Necochea has been applying this procedure for the last few years. This is due to a wage dispute between crews and tug boat owners.

Scrubbers. The restriction to use open-loop scrubbers was regulated/prohibited on Aug 2020 (Disp 15/2020), but shortly afterward the application of this regulation was ‘suspended’ by the authority (Disp 20/2020). Therefore, at present time no specific regulation/restriction applies regarding the use of scrubbers in Argentina waterways, at least, until further notice. Besides scrubbers, any other wash water discharge is strictly forbidden in riverway and seaports and to be carried out as per MARPOL Annex V.

Crew changes made at previous port/s 14 days prior arrival in Argentine ports: Besides many other documents and certificates, these below are of special concern:

-Owner’s Crew changes protocol at foreign countries].

-Owner’s note (with signature and stamp of the Captain and Owners company) clarifying that the crew change was carried out taking all due precautions, etc.

-Medical certificate issued by certified professional in the country where the crew joined, not the country of origin.

-Covid test, PCR, for on-signers at port of boarding (not country of origin).

Lacking any of above (besides all usual documents) pilots will not be allowed to board until a 14 day period is counted starting from the moment the last crew-member has boarded.

Will keep you posted.

Best regards,

Antares Servicios Maritimos S.A.

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