Infrastructure: The Key Word Behind the Vaca Muerta Boom – Trade News | 05/06/26

The growth of Vaca Muerta is pushing Argentina’s logistics infrastructure to its limits, particularly due to the need to transport silica sand used for fracking over approximately 1,300 kilometers, from the Paraná River basin — mainly Ibicuy, Entre Ríos — to Neuquén. In 2025, the operation consumed 5.5 million metric tons, while demand is projected to reach 8 million metric tons in 2026-2027, a scale that is driving a shift away from Argentina’s historical dependence on trucking toward a multimodal system and could provide the critical cargo volume needed to finance major infrastructure projects. One example is Puerto Quequén, which handled more than 9 million metric tons in 2025 through 281,824 trucks and no railcars, while the Ayacucho-Tandil-Lobería-Balcarce-Quequén railway corridor has remained inactive since 2003; four municipalities in Buenos Aires Province are now seeking to include the line in the new railway concession scheme, using Vaca Muerta sand as the initial anchor cargo and potentially adding agricultural bulk, mining and containerized cargo in the future. The push to reduce systemic costs also extends to waterways: the Magdalena Canal is presented as a more direct, bidirectional alternative to the Punta Indio Canal that could reduce dependence on the Montevideo area, optimize port and pilotage costs and strengthen exports to markets such as India and the Middle East. Meanwhile, Decree 748/2026 expanded the RIGI to include railway infrastructure, dry ports and cargo transfer centers, enabling private capital to finance projects such as the modernization of the Bahía Blanca-Añelo section. Its potential extension toward Zapala and Pino Hachado could advance the Southern Bioceanic Corridor, connecting Argentine production with Chilean Pacific ports. The central challenge will be to leverage the volumes generated by Vaca Muerta to develop shared and diversified logistics infrastructure that can serve other productive sectors rather than remain dependent exclusively on the shale cycle. Link to Article