Maximilian Heath News

Argentina's Parana River, a global grains thoroughfare, reopened to shipping traffic on Tuesday after a grounded ship was freed, though vessels were told to load less grain while the damage to the channel was assessed.Shipping traffic had been snarled after the ship Clara Insignia, loaded with wheat, ran aground near the waterway's main channel and was stuck for several days, blocking the channel down river from the Rosario grains port hub.The bulk carrier was freed late on Monday…

A vessel carrying wheat that ran aground near the main channel of South America's Parana River has been freed but the waterway remains closed while checks are being made, the Argentine Naval Prefecture said on Tuesday.The vessel ran aground on Feb.17 and "was heading outbound in laden condition, navigating with a draft of 10.23 meters and carrying 31,121 metric tons of wheat," Inchcape Shipping said in a notice.The Parana River runs through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.

Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay have urged Argentina to stop applying tolls for ships and barges carrying grains and other exports, saying it restricts navigation on a key river channel.The four countries issued a joint statement late on Sunday blasting as "unilateral and arbitrary" Argentina's decision to seize a barge from Mercurio Group, a Paraguayan shipping company, to collect a toll, adding its actions could affect supply and prices.The barge was released on Monday after paying the toll, a company spokesperson told local radio.Argentine authorities say tolls on the Paraguay-Parana

Grain inspectors returned to their posts after midday Monday following a short-lived strike, the local chamber of Port and Maritime Activities (CAPyM) said.The workers, who began a strike Monday morning in a bid to push for higher wages, returned to work after a mandatory conciliation order from the government.(Reuters - Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Christian Plumb)

Argentina grains inspectors have launched a 24-hour strike that is halting shipments at key river ports in farm transport hub Rosario, the ports chamber CAPyM said on Monday.The strike by the Urgara grains inspectors union is linked to conflicts over a port in the city of Buenos Aires and what it says are high taxes applied to workers' salaries.The strike "is affecting absolutely all the ports (in Rosario).

Argentina's Rosario agro-port hub terminals were operating normally on Thursday in the midst of a strike by the Urgara grain receivers union aimed at storage centers, the country's Chamber of Port and Maritime Activities (CAPyM) said."The ports are not affected," Guillermo Wade, manager of CAPyM, told Reuters, adding that, at most, "those who have stocks will be receiving a little less merchandise or less than the estimated, but they are very specific cases."Grain receivers are technicians who analyze the merchandise stored in collection centers distributed throughout the country…

Argentine ship workers will stage a 24-hour strike on Thursday to protest what they call delays by the government in awarding tenders to the sector, although the action is not expected to affect activity at key grains ports in and around Rosario.The Maritime, Port and Naval Industry Federation (Fempinra) announced the strike on Tuesday, less than a week after protests by grains truck drivers snarled up transportation of soy and corn right in the middle of the harvest season.Worker protests have grown more common in the South American country, the world's top exporter of processed soy and no.

Argentina's grains inspectors began a 24-hour strike on Monday demanding bonus payments, but port activity and shipments of farm products were not affected in the South American country, the top global exporter of processed soybeans.Juan Carlos Peralta, press secretary of the URGARA union, said there was strong compliance with the strike action and that on Monday afternoon the union would hold another assembly to decide whether to extend the strike."We will continue with the measure if we do not have an answer…

Gustavo Alcides Diaz, an Argentine fisherman and hunter from a river island community, is at home on the water. The Parana River once lapped the banks near his wooden stilt home that he could reach by boat. Fish gave him food and income. He purified river water to drink.Now the 40-year-old looks out on a trickle of muddy water.The Parana, South America's second-largest river behind only the Amazon, has retreated this year to its lowest level since its record low in 1944, hit by cyclical droughts and dwindling rainfall upriver in Brazil.

Argentina's government has agreed a short-term deal with Belgian firm Jan de Nul to dredge the Parana River, a government source said on Friday, a move that should ease industry concerns in the near-term over navigability of the critical grains waterway.Exporters had grown worried about a lack of clarity over who would keep the river clear for cargo ships at a time when record low water levels have hit shipments while the state has a divisive plan to take a more direct role managing the Parana.Argentina is a key global wheat supplier…

Ships leaving the Argentine agricultural ports hub of Rosario on the Parana River are having to reduce cargos by thousands of tonnes due to low water levels, the local head of logistics said on Wednesday, amid growing environmental concerns.Dryness in Brazil, where the Parana originates, has diminished cargo traffic and sparked worries by environmentalists about dredging the river below certain depths. The dryness has reduced the amount of cargo that can be carried by ships at the height of the Argentine corn and soy export season."Handymax ships are leaving port with 9…

Ships leaving the Argentine agricultural ports hub of Rosario on the Parana River are having to reduce cargos by thousands of tonnes due to low water levels, the local head of logistics said on Wednesday, amid growing environmental concerns.Dryness in Brazil, where the Parana originates, has diminished cargo traffic and sparked worries by environmentalists about dredging the river below certain depths. The dryness has reduced the amount of cargo that can be carried by ships at the height of the Argentine corn and soy export season."Handymax ships are leaving port with 9…

A coalition of nine Argentine port worker unions will go on a nationwide 24-hour strike starting at midnight to press for vaccinations against the coronavirus, the labor groups said in a statement on Thursday.Workers including tugboat captains and customs officers have held similar work stoppages recently, as the South American grains powerhouse gets hit by a second wave of COVID-19 cases."We have raised the issue and held meetings with different authorities with the purpose to obtaining concrete answers regarding the application of vaccines against COVID-19 to our workers…

Argentine port workers said on Tuesday they would hold a 48-hour strike starting at midnight (0300 GMT Wednesday), after paralyzing agricultural exports from the country last week with an initial work stoppage over demands they be vaccinated against COVID-19.Cargo traffic at the ports hub of Rosario, from which about 80% of the country's grains exports are shipped, was snarled by last week's strike by tugboat captains and other maritime port workers. A group of 11 unions issued a statement late on Tuesday announcing the new work stoppage.They are asking to be designated as essential workers…

Argentina's Parana River, the grains superhighway that takes soy and corn from the Pampas farm belt to the world, has gotten so shallow that it has started "trimming" international shipments just as the country's export season gets underway.The level of the Parana at the export hub of Rosario, home to some of the biggest soy crushing plants in the world, was a scant 0.90 meters on Wednesday, according to the Coast Guard.Between 1996 and 2020 the median depth of the river at Rosario in April was a much deeper 3.58 meters.

The union representing Argentine port-side grain inspectors said on Thursday it had ended a month-long wage strike after reaching a contract deal with export companies that will allow international soy, corn and wheat shipments to return to normal.The deal was struck after a marathon negotiation session with Argentina's private ports chamber on Wednesday. The work stoppage by the union, known by its Spanish acronym Urgara, started on Dec. 9 and had hit operations in key ports throughout Argentina…

Loading of more than 140 agricultural export ships in Argentina has been stalled by a port-side oilseed workers' strike that started on Dec. 9, the head of the local chamber of soymeal manufacturers said on Monday, on the eve of talks on a new contract.The CIARA-CEC chamber of soy byproduct manufacturers will meet on Tuesday with the two main unions representing oilseed workers to try and hammer out a 2021 compensation package."We seek an agreement with the unions that allows the efficient…

Argentine oilseed workers and grains inspectors said on Wednesday they will spend Christmas on strike, further bogging down agricultural exports by extending a work stoppage that started on Dec. 9.The latest offer from the CIARA-CEC chamber of soyoil manufacturers and exporters was issued late on Tuesday. It was rejected by the SOEA union of oilseed workers and the Argentine federation of oilseed workers."We and our families will spend Christmas on strike," said the two unions…

More than 100 cargo ships were kept from loading agricultural goods in Argentina on Monday, as a wage strike by grains inspectors and oilseed workers stretched into its second week, paralyzing exports from one of the world's breadbaskets.Argentina is the No. 1 international exporter of soymeal livestock feed used to fatten hogs and poultry from Europe to Southeast Asia. Contract talks between workers and export companies have broken down over compensation packages, with both sides…

The loading of five cargo ships in different grains ports in Argentina has been stalled for days due to strikes by port workers, the labor union representing the employees and an industry source said on Wednesday.ADM and the local ACA cooperative have each had a ship waiting since Saturday to complete cargo loading at the companies' terminals in Puerto General San Martín and San Lorenzo, the shipping hub north of Rosario, according to the URGARA union.Another ADM ship and one for Louis Dreyfus are also waiting to be loaded in the port of Bahía Blanca.

The Argentine Navy submarine that went missing a year ago off the country's Atlantic Coast was found by a private company involved in what had been a massive search for the vessel and its 44-member crew, the defense ministry said in a news conference on Saturday.The ARA San Juan submarine was discovered by marine tracking contractor Ocean Infinity, 907 meters (2,975 feet) below the ocean surface. The vessel was found in an underwater canyon with its tail partially "imploded," Argentina's Defense Minister Carlos Aguad said.Given the poor visibility at the site…

labor union representing Argentine grains port workers said on Thursday that it suspended a scheduled strike over wages after the government called for talks between the workers and their companies.The URGARA union, which represents inspectors who check the quality of grains before they are loaded onto ships, said the strike, previously set to begin on Friday, would hold off until an upcoming meeting scheduled by the government."In the framework of maintaining social peace, we…

Shallow water in Argentina's Parana River will slow exports and hurt the country's soy crushing margins at least through September, officials said, as more cargo ships are needed to carry the same amount of commodities.Drought has pushed the Parana to its lowest level in decades, complicating transportation and soymeal production.An increasing number of ships are running aground and higher costs are pressuring margins at the giant soy crushing plants that make Argentina the world's top exporter of livestock feed…