Transshipment port in the Rio de la Plata

Abstract

The predictions for the future foretell an increase of the amount of exported grain over the Rio Paraná/Rio de la Plata system of 63% in 2030. Besides this, the new Panama locks will be finished in 2015. Seeing as the current shipping standard is largely determined by the Panama locks, the general expectation is that the vessel dimensions will increase to a standard size that complies with the new locks. It is evident that the increase in maximum draft of these vessels makes the depth restrictions in the Rio de la Plata cut into their efficiency even harder. It is a reasonable assumption that something has to be done in order to keep the Rio Paraná system from collapsing. There are numerous types of solutions that could be applied for this problem. The chosen solution in this case is the construction of a new port somewhere in the Rio de la Plata. This port would serve as a transhipment station where inland vessels deliver the cargo from ports along Rio Paraná and where it gets transhipped into ocean going vessels with a New Panamax size, which have a maximum draft of 54 feet, for shipment across the ocean. This solution means that the ocean going vessels can fully utilise their maximum draft for the entire duration of their trip. Furthermore it means that, as far as the grain industry is concerned, the requirement for maintaining an artificial depth of 34 feet in the Rio de la Plata past the port is no longer required. The final design of the previously described port consists of an artificial island on Banco Chico off the coast of Magdalena in the Rio de la Plata. This location has been chosen due to political, environmental and cost related motivations and is located right next to the already existing shipping channel, making the required access channel for the port’s ocean basin shorter. The port is designed to be capable of receiving anything up to fully loaded New Panamax sized vessels and partially loaded Capesize vessels. On the river side of the port the system is designed to make use of tug/barge combinations with a loading capacity of 5600 tons and a draft of 14 feet. This draft means they can freely sail on most of the Rio de la Plata and do not necessarily require the maintained channels. The island itself gives room for (temporary) storage of commodities in between unloading and loading to ensure a constant supply of grain to load the ocean vessels and thus reduces the service time. All in all the construction of a transhipment port on an artificial island in the Rio de la Plata is a preliminarily feasible solution to the described problem. This does, however, mean that all the assumptions that have been made in the design phase will either have to be true, or false in a non-critical fashion. On top of that there are still numerous risks that could harm the operational feasibility of the port and make sure it will never exist. As long as sufficient research is done into the more critical aspects of these risks and assumptions, a lot of economic benefit could be gained from embarking on a new system.