Argentine Shipping Companies Warn High Costs Are Holding Back Maritime Transport Growth – Datamar News | 01/10/26

The Federation of Argentine Shipping Companies (FENA) warned that the limited share of river and maritime transport between Argentine ports is not the result of insufficient capacity to grow, but rather of competitiveness problems stemming from what it describes as a “hostile cost ecosystem,” as debate continues over the Cabotage Law. The organization argues that replacing domestic operators with foreign companies will not, by itself, reduce logistics costs and instead proposes eliminating the labor, tax, port and regulatory distortions affecting companies operating under the Argentine flag. These include 38% social security charges, collective bargaining agreements requiring oversized crews and a tax structure that imposes costs not faced by foreign operators elsewhere in the region. As an example, FENA said the pro forma operating cost for a Kamsarmax at Argentine ports such as San Martín, San Lorenzo or Timbúes is around US$300,000, compared with US$70,000-US$80,000 in southern Brazil, while a mooring service can cost as much as US$15,000 in Argentina versus US$700-US$1,000 in Montevideo. The federation also criticized a 75% increase in dollar-denominated fees at the Port of Bahía Blanca over the past year and redundant Customs and Coast Guard clearances, against a backdrop in which Argentina’s river barge fleet is now practically nonexistent. FENA said the domestic shipping industry has the know-how and capital needed to rapidly expand capacity if these distortions are corrected and warned that deregulated opening without first addressing existing asymmetries could accelerate the disappearance of the national fleet. Beyond its economic and employment impact, the organization argues that maintaining an Argentine merchant fleet helps preserve logistics sovereignty and ensure the supply of critical inputs during international crises. As a proposal, FENA called for the creation of a National Logistics Competitiveness Roundtable, bringing together the national government, provinces, regional economies, port terminals, shipping companies and system users to identify and remove the distortions that increase the “Argentine cost” and move toward more efficient, competitive and sustainable logistics. Link to Article