The Navigation Center demanded that Miguel Ángel Pesce and his team immediately modify Communication A 7746. access the document
By iProfessional
23/04/2023 – 11,28hs
Surprised by the ignorance of the Central Bank (BCRA) of the current standards in global maritime transport, the Navigation Center claimed Miguel Ángel Pesce and his team the immediate modification of Communication A 7746, “allowing the Maritime Agencies to freely make the remittances corresponding to the payments of freight and invoiced services on behalf and order of the Shipowners, in accordance with the applicable exchange regulations, without them being subject to prior and mandatory compliance with any term .”
They accuse the Central of turning Argentina into a “dirty port”
The deferral of payments ordered by the BCRA -consequence of its policy of managing scarce currencies- It can cause that in a short period of time not even a “water flat” arrive in the country, using the jargon of maritime trade.
The BCRA is unaware that the ships that come to Argentina deviate from the conventional lines of traffic to reach ports with low cargo volumes and sometimes not even deep enough. In these circumstances, the BCRA wants to defer payments.
The letter seems like a tutorial on how the shipping business works: its senders consider that the authorities suffer from complete ignorance on the subject they have regulated.
For importers the horizon of shortages in the market and for exporters a question mark even when the harvest has declined due to the drought. But there is something else: the warning to the BCRA that Shipowners require the collection and payment of freight “offshore” (out of the country)“harming the interests of the actors that make up the local logistics chain, turning Argentina into a “Dirty Port”, with loss of competitiveness, production, work and foreign currency income for millions for all Argentines.”
The text, with the support of the Argentine Chamber of Commerce, refers to Communication A 7746 of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA), which has blocked the operation of shipping agencies, and reproaches the monetary authority for already he had been alerted to the problem -with the endorsement of the Argentine Banking Association (ABA)- on 02/18/2022 and 07/12/2022.
“Now, in a total contradiction with said solution previously regulated by the BCRA, the new regulation imposes that (….) it will be necessary for the payment to be made after 90 calendar days from the date of effective provision of the service (…) negatively affecting the normal flow of transfers abroad and, consequently, the transport operations of import and export cargo (90% of which are carried out by water) , which undoubtedly can cause foreign trade operations to become more expensive and the consequent shortage of inputs for national production, with loss of employment and millionaire income in foreign currency,” they add.
Meanwhile, since last March 10 -date of the meeting between presidents Alberto Fernández and Mario Abdo Benítez- The Argentine authorities are issuing invoices for the collection of the toll on the Paraná River to vessels with the Paraguayan flag.
They accuse the Central of turning Argentina into a “dirty port”
The complaint from those from Asunción was that the meeting was motivated by Paraguay’s request that this measure be repealed because injures the Paraguay-Paraná Hydroday agreementaccording to the Center for River and Maritime Shipowners (Cafym), in Asunción.
The authority responsible for collecting the toll on the Paraná River, within Argentine territory, is the General Administration of Ports (AGP), the concessionaire of the main waterway of the waterway. And the AGP has rejected the Paraguayan claims because it does not have a different communication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Argentine Justice, which reports a suspension of the billing for the route.
For this reason, Paraguayan companies will request precautionary measures from the Argentine Justice at the same time that they could pay invoices under protest against the threat of AGP to interdict the vessels that could cause, for example, the shortage of fuels in the Paraguayan market.
