International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Argentina has begun handling import shipments bound for Buenos Aires La Plata Free Zone (BAZFLP), a major business and commercial area in Argentina.

The shipment from Brazil was unloaded at TecPlata last month and included a seismograph bound for the Vaca Muerta unconventional oil and gas field in Argentina’s Neuquen Province.  The equipment will be used by Wellfield Industry Ltda.

ICTSI noted that from TecPlata, the containers were received by the Productive Zone user, one of the first companies established in BAZFLP. 

Tecplata is five kilometres away from the Free Zone and is one of the most modern container terminals in Argentina with an annual capacity of 450,000 TEUs.

Around 90% of free zone trade in Argentina passes through BAZFLP, which has 100 direct and 3,400 indirect users. 

TecPlata continues to consolidate its position as an alternative to the Port of Buenos Aires

It sits strategically in the town of Ensenada, which is 60 kilometres away from Buenos Aires and is highly accessible via land and river–through site 23 of Puerto La Plata. 

In July last year, TecPlata signed a cargo-handling agreement with petrochemical companies YPF and an Argentine subsidiary of Dow. 

This was followed by the partnership with Evergreen to launch a new service to Asia and the Far East early this year.  In June, TecPlata received its first reefer container for the export of garlic to Brazil.