Mercosur News

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

A ship carrying 30,500 tonnes of U.S. soybeans was unloading its rare cargo on Friday after getting all regulatory permissions and docking at one of Paranaguá’s berths, according to a spokeswoman for the port authority.Brazil, a net food exporter, sold so much of its soybeans to China, that little was left to process internally during the inter-harvest period. A weak exchange rate contributed to this year’s export bonanza.“Brazil is a giant in the production of soybeans, but the price of the product in the international market, combined with a favorable exchange rate, meant that practically all production was sold abroad,” Luiz Fernando Garcia, chief executive of the company that operates the port, said in a statement on Thursday.

Paraguay’s Tsuneishi Shipyard, a subsidiary of the Japanese firm of the same name, recently delivered the powerful towboat Tebicuary 3 to her owners Navegación del Sur S.A. (Navesur) in June of 2018. The new vessel is a near sister-ship to the 2015-delivered Ceasar Primo for a different owner. The newer vessel will also work on the Paraguay-Paraná River system that provides marine access to large parts of central South America.“The Paraguay-Paraná Waterway is a regional agreement between Argentina…

The European Union's trade chief described on Thursday the lack of a full trade accord between the bloc and the United States as ridiculous, but said the best that could be expected now was only a very modest agreement.Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom also rebuffed suggestions that the EU should simply seek to settle its differences over tariffs with the United States at the World Trade Organization, questioning whether the WTO's appeals process could survive in the longer term.EU leaders agreed last week to discuss opening their markets wider to U.S.

Mr Antonio Cachapuz de Medeiros was elected today at a Special Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in New York. The meeting was held to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Vicente Marotta Range (Brazil) on 18 May 2015. predecessor's nine-year term, which expires on 30 September 2017. Mr Cachapuz de Medeiros has been Legal Advisor to the Ministry of External Relations of Brazil since 1998, heading diplomatic delegations to over 40 international conferences and bilateral meetings. He is a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and an honorary Member of the Governing Council of UNIDROIT.

Log-In Logística Intermodal SA , one of Brazil's largest operators of cargo ships and port terminals, hired Moelis & Co. to advise on the refinancing of 1.9 billion reais ($475 million) worth of bank loans, three sources with direct knowledge of the situation said on Wednesday. The board of Rio de Janeiro-based Log In, which has more than 1,500 clients in South America's Mercosur trade bloc, this week approved the renegotiation of payment terms with creditors, said two of the sources, who requested anonymity. Bankers at Moelis began meetings with creditors, Itaú Unibanco Holding SA, Banco do Brasil SA, HSBC Holdings Plc and Banco Santander Brasil SA , on Wednesday, one of the sources said.

Yesterday, Hamburg Süd subsidiary Aliança christened its containership Pedro Álvares Cabral during a ceremony held for customers at the port of Itapoá. The ship’s Sponsor is Elisabeth von Krüger de Freitas, the wife of Humberto Ramos de Freitas, Executive Officer for Logistics and Mineral Exploration of Vale S.A., one of the most important clients of Aliança Bulk. Dr. Arnt Vespermann, Member of the Executive Board of Hamburg Süd and Julian Thomas, General Manager Region South America East Coast of Hamburg Süd and Aliança, also participated in the ceremonies.

The European Union and South America's Mercosur trade bloc reportedly agreed to launch talks in November, which they hope will lead to bilateral free trade.

Crowley Marine Services Paraguay has accepted delivery of Papu Sur, the second of two new Papu-Class river push boats to be deployed in its Mercosur barge feeder service. With a fleet that includes two additional ocean tugs, Papu Viento and Papu Mar, Papu Sur will broaden the feeder service's daily sailings between Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Asuncion and other ports situated along the Parana, Paraguay and Uruguay river system. Four flat-deck ocean and river barges are also part of the new group of Sur vessels. Measuring 112 ft. in length, Papu Sur, along with sister vessel Papu Norte were designed and constructed for Crowley Marine's subsidiary, Vessel Management Services. Both vessels will be owned and operated for the Mercosur trades by Crowley's Paraguay S.R.L.

A cargo of Argentine corn purchased by Brazilian poultry and pig farms tested positive for genetically modified (GM) material and may not enter Brazil, the Agriculture Ministry said last week. Last week, ministry analysts tested samples taken from the 38,000-ton cargo, originally shipped by the Uruguayan subsidiary of private U.S. grain giant Cargill, and detected certain proteins that prove transgenic alteration. The vessel carrying the corn was not permitted to unload its cargo at the northern Brazilian port of Recife, capital of Pernambuco state, and has been lying offshore while the government team conducted its DNA tests over a number of days.