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Paraguay News

20 Feb 2024

Parana River Reopens to Vessel Traffic with Draft Restrictions

© Alex Ruhl / Adobe Stock

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…

20 Feb 2024

Parana River's Main Channel Obstructed After Vessel Runs Aground

© aerrant / Adobe Stock

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.

12 Sep 2023

Concordia Damen to Deliver River Pusher to Girona S.A. in Paraguay

(Image: Concordia Damen)

Paraguayan shipowner and operator Girona S.A. – Rio Sur Transporte y Logistica has contracted Dutch inland shipping construction yard Concordia Damen to build a CDS4115 Shallow Draft 5.400 HP River Pusher to expand its fleet.Concordia Damen said it has thoroughly researched the Paraguay River characteristics in relation to the desired operational profile of the vessel. Based on this, its engineers designed the most efficient pusher considering local conditions, the builder said.

11 Sep 2023

Brazil, Paraguay Clash with Argentina Over Grains Waterway Tolls

© JR Slompo / Adobe Stock

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

27 Oct 2021

Mighty River to Muddy Trickle: South America's Parana Rings Climate Alarm

Illustration only - Aerial shot over Parana River in Front of Rosario City - Credit: Wirestock/AdobeStock

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.

05 Oct 2021

Corporación Navios Upgrades Harbor Crane

(Photo: Liebherr)

Uruguayan company Corporación Navios replaced a Liebherr long duty cycle crane with a permanently installed harbor crane type FCC 300. The recently erected harbor crane will be used for dry bulk handling of barges in hoppers at the terminal in Nueva Palmira, Uruguay. The now total of three harbor cranes is expected to increase the terminal's handling rates and generate operating synergies, as the crane operators will work with the same type of crane on all operations.Corporación Navios has been working with Liebherr cranes for 30 years.

27 Aug 2021

Paraguay Grains Ships Cut Loads, Face Delays as River Levels Drop

© Alexey Lesik / Adobe Stock

Grains ships and vessels transporting other products on the Paraguay River are loading at around half capacity due to a historic drought that has hit river levels in the South American region, hurting trade of key agricultural commodities.Industry insiders said that many cargo holds on ships were being left empty, travel times were being delayed and farmers in the world's fourth-largest exporter of soybeans were having to hold on longer to grains that they couldn't ship."The situation is critical and delicate…

16 Jul 2021

Paraguay: T&C Orders Damen Cutter Suction Dredger

Credit: Damen

Paraguayan firm Ingeniería de Topografía y Caminos S.A. (T&C) has ordered a customised Cutter Suction Dredger (CSD) 500 from the Dutch shipbuilder Damen.T&C will use the dredger to transform the southern riverbank of the capital Asunción, in the Costanera Sur project. "The modular dredger will sharply increase sand production, required to meet the ambitious projects deadlines," Damen said.According to Damen, parts of the city have flooded annually for decades due to their proximity to the river.

21 May 2021

Stranded Grains Ships to Be Towed Free from Rosario

(Photo: Claudio Elias)

Seven grains ships stranded at Argentina's export hub of Rosario will be towed free and sent out to sea after they were loaded with more produce than could be carried on the port's increasingly shallow waters, local authorities said on Friday.Rosario traffic has been snarled in the aftermath of a 48-hour strike by tugboat captains and other workers managing the flow of agricultural cargo ships.Seven ships, six of them large Panamax vessels, loaded with soymeal, corn and other farm products were moored at Rosario during the work stoppage.

30 Mar 2021

Atria Retrofits Its Paraná Push Boat Fleet with Thordon Bearings

A Thordon SXL rudder bearing replaces a rubber bearing on an Atria Logistics UABL vessel (Photo: Thordon)

One of South America’s leading push boat operators is on its way to completing a fleet-wide retrofit to Thordon’s water lubricated tailshaft and rudder bearings.In 2014, Argentinian owner Atria Logistics UABL, which operates a fleet of workboats on the Paraná River, installed Thordon’s RiverTough tailshaft bearings to its first push boat, the 135-foot-long Concepcion. In 2020, six more vessels in the company’s 26-strong fleet were converted.Egnard Bernal, Thordon Bearing’s Business Development Manager…

24 Feb 2021

Dutch Report Record Containership Cocaine Bust

© lassedesigned / Adobe Stock

Customs authorities in Hamburg and Antwerp have seized a record haul of more than 23 tonnes of cocaine destined for the Netherlands in two raids this month, Dutch prosecutors said on Wednesday.The two shipments together represented a street value of roughly 600 million euros ($730 million), the prosecutors said, making it the biggest catch of cocaine headed for the Netherlands ever.Prosecutors said a 28-year old Dutchman had been arrested on Wednesday who was registered as the recipient of the containers in which the drugs were found.In Hamburg, Germany, 16.17 tonnes of cocaine were found in o

04 Dec 2020

Rare US Soybean Cargo Unloaded at Brazils Paranaguá Port

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.

05 Oct 2020

Inmarsat Supporting Impala Push Boats on the Paraná

Real time video surveillance via Fleet Xpress is keeping cargoes and crews secure along the Paraná River - the artery for economic development that carries around 80% of Paraguay’s trade (Photo: Inmarsat)

Inmarsat has equipped four Paraná River push boats operated by Impala Paraguay with Fleet Xpress connectivity, in what the mobile satellite communications company is calling a breakthrough for maritime broadband inland along one of South America’s longest waterways.The prime mover vessels are used by Impala Paraguay to steer its fleet of 30 double-hulled barges along the waterway system to move gas oil, jet fuel, gasoline and naphtha products from Argentina onward to Paraguay and Bolivia, exporting soya bean oil in the other direction.

28 May 2020

Demand for Brazil Grains Rise as Argentine River Shipments Hit Snag

© Imago Photo / Adobe Stock

Global demand for Brazilian grains is growing as Argentina and Paraguay struggle with low water levels in a key river for agricultural shipments that is preventing ships from being fully loaded, a Brazilian trading company told Reuters on Thursday.Chief Executive Frederico Humberg of trading firm AgriBrasil said the company has sold three shipments of Brazilian corn where the buyer had initially sought to buy from Argentina."The buyer had purchased in Argentina, but ended up reverting to Brazil," Humberg said.Humberg said he knew of 10 shipments in total between AgriBrasil and other suppliers

29 May 2020

Parched Parana River Likely to Hit Argentine Grain Exports through September

© Alex Ruhl / Adobe Stock

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…

20 Apr 2020

Brazil Agrees to Raise Level of the Parana River

© Yio / Adobe Stock

Brazil has agreed to release water at the giant Itaipu hydroelectric dam to raise low water levels in the Parana River, a key thoroughfare for grains shipments, Argentina's Foreign Ministry said on Friday.Decade-low water levels on the Parana are forcing Argentine exporters to load less soy and other grains on ships bound largely for China, adding a new problem to a sector already beset by bottlenecks due to the coronavirus pandemic.The agreement with Brazil will allow for an additional 1,400 cubic meters of water flow to be added to the river, the ministry said in a statement.

06 Oct 2019

Workshop on Implementing MARPOL

What are the barriers to implementing the International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations to cut emissions from ships and how can these be overcome?These were key questions explored during an IMO regional workshop on effective ratification and implementation of MARPOL Annex VI and the  initial IMO strategy on reduction of GHG emissions from ships, held in Viña del Mar, Chile (30 September-2 October).Participants identified existing barriers preventing ratification of MARPOL Annex VI, such as concerns about associated costs for the refinery industry and ship owners, and identified ways to overcome these barriers, building on the…

24 Sep 2019

Latin America Empowers Maritime Women

International Maritime Organization (IMO), with support from Malaysia, has given fresh impetus to an important regional network helping to promote women in the maritime community in Latin America.At a meeting in Colombia, (18-20 September 2019), the network of Women of the Maritime Authorities of Latin America (MAMLa) was put on a firm foundation. Maritime Authorities include Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Panama and Peru.Some forty participants from 17 Maritime Authorities from the region established a governance and membership structure…

09 Aug 2019

Workshop on Implementing IMO Treaties

International Maritime Organization (IMO) treaties need to be implemented into national law so that they can be applied on ships flying the flag of a particular country and so that those countries can implement effective port State control and comply with other obligations under the specified IMO instruments.According to the UN body, an IMO course provides lawyers and legislative drafters with the tools they need to understand IMO treaties, how they are developed and adopted - and the implementation of those treaties into national legislation.Twenty-one participants from Latin America attended a regional workshop on the general principles of drafting maritime legislation to implement IMO Conventions…

01 Oct 2018

Powerful Shallow-Draft Paraguay Towboat

The red carpet was out for visitors to come onboard at the commissioning ceremony for the Tebicuary 3. Photo: Cummins/Haig-Brown

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…

24 May 2018

Europe Can Expect Only Modest Trade Deal with U.S. - EU Trade Chief

© Pavel Losevsky / Adobe Stock

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.

27 Mar 2018

Wärtsilä, Hidrovias Group Ink Maintenance Deal

Wärtsilä and Hidrovias do Brasil signed a five-year Optimized Maintenance agreement on the fleet of eight pusher tugs operating in the rivers of South America. The agreement enables flexible maintenance planning and execution according to the real condition of the equipment, thus ensuring better lifecycle value for the vessels. Hidrovias pusher tugs offer high-quality logistic solutions for the transportation of agricultural commodities, ores, steel products and other loads, with customized long-term projects in the rivers of Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Vessels are operating in demanding shallow waters and remote locations, which makes maintenance planning and execution challenging for pusher tug operators.

19 Dec 2017

New Women in Maritime Network Launched

Central and Latin America celebrated the launch of a new women in the maritime network in Valparaíso, Chile (13-15 December), which joins the International Maritime Organization (IMO)  family of regional Women in Maritime Associations (WIMAs), giving visibility and recognition to the role women play as key resources for the maritime sector. Sixty two women from 18 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela) came together to set up a framework for the newly formed network as well as share ideas and knowledge about the industry.