José María Dodds, president of the management consortium of the Argentinian Port of La Plata, has suggested that more powerful shipping alliances may be a factor in preventing a major shift of box traffic away from the port of Buenos Aires in favour of La Plata, where the International Container Terminal Services'' TecPlata container terminal remains empty.
While conceding that there has been an overall drop off in some container traffic, Mr Dodds said to Portal Portuario, that it is $100,000 cheaper to use La Plata and that there are no waiting times.
In contrast, vessels calling at Buenos Aires are often faced with a 36-hour wait at anchor prior to berthing.
Marcelo Cardama, the Argentinian commercial manager of Cosco Shipping Lines, said that alliances mean that the decision to move port requires the go ahead from a number of shipowners. Habit often determines where lines call, he added, even though ports such as Buenos Aires are more expensive and have lesser draft than La Plata.
