June 23rd – Crew Changes

June 23rd 2020

Crew Changes

In view of the ongoing developing situation and different communications and instructions being issued by Sanitary Authorities of the Argentine Government we have chosen to send a consolidated daily report at the closing of working hours with an update of the day’s news.

National Holiday: Thursday, July 09th, Independence Day and Friday July 10th “Bridge Holiday”.

Covid-19 National Quarantine: The National Quarantine has now been extended until June 28th. The press are saying that it is to be extended to July 12th.
According to the press there will be further restrictive measures as from Thursday in the “Greater Buenos Aires”. The main fear of the Government is that the Hospital may collapse. The increase at the moment is about 1,100 cases per day, but there still remain about 60 per cent free beds in intensive care units. It all depends on statistics. It is said that there is truth, lies and statistics.

At the main ports the sanitary measures remain unchanged and attendance is well coordinated. The Ship’s Agency tasks are allowed to continue with few restrictions and strict sanitary procedures are applied. Upriver ports are working close to normal with strict sanitary enforcement.

As mentioned before Bahia Blanca and Necochea are very rigid imposing in nearly all cases a 14 day quarantine on arriving vessels. The 14 days are counted as from departure from the last port of call.

*** IMPORTANT *** Recalada/Zona Comun. New procedures for arriving vessels: As from Sunday June 14th, the CoastGuard medics will not be attending at Recalada. Until then the medics would board inbound vessels at anchorage Recalada prior boarding pilots. The change is that now medics are boarding vessels at Zona Comun, but only as from 0900 hours. It means that now the preliminary inspection has added cost. Each vessel must pay a launch service for the attending medics and additionally the pilots charge an anchoring fee. This will amount to additional cost as follows:
USD 1,200.00 launch service, Monday to Friday. Saturdays, Sundays and National Holidays USD 1,680.00

plus

USD ——– Pilot’s anchoring fee calculated as follows: USD 14.00 per Fiscal Unit of the vessel. FUs are calculated basis (LOA x Beam x Molded depth)/800.

Crew changes: Crew changes in Argentina and Uruguay are not possible until further notice. The borders are closed. No international flights and crew on vessels are not allowed ashore, unless in case of a medical emergency. Crew members that were disembarked under emergency circumstances, recovered, and discharged are now unable to leave the country.

River Parana draft: There has not been any significant rain in the catchment areas of the River Parana. River levels remain stable, but we are still far from being back to 34 feet until September. Levels for the next month are expected to fluctuate in the 30 to 32 feet range.

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Necochea: The port opened on June 19th at 0830 hours.

Bahia Blanca: Pilotage service is being rendered normally.

Vicentin: The enthusiasm for the grab at Vicentin seems to be fading away. Or it could also be a truce, or a wait and see and try to pounce quietly. No special news today.

– Export licenses: There was little movement on export licenses on Monday 22nd June. 4,000 metric tons of wheat, 3,600 metric tons of soya meal and 900 metric tons of flint maize.

Maize, soya meal and soya beans: After a surge Friday and over the weekend deliveries at ports were down a little. 1,756 trucks arrived at Upriver ports, of those 1,149 were maize. Cargill received 20 rail wagons of maize. Bahia Blanca got 1,091 trucks, of those 703 were maize. 184 rail wagons of soya beans and 89 wagons of soya meal.

Freight rates: The paper trade on freight (Baltic index) is on the rise. Hopefully it will decant down into the real market.

Will keep you posted.

Best regards,
Antares Servicios Maritimos S.A.

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