General Motors’ division in Argentina is to use the port of Rosario for its logistics activities in the country. All logistics operations run by GM in South America will now be based at Terminal Puerto Rosario, which was chosen because of its geographical position both on the bi-oceanic rail corridor and at the entrance to the Paraguay-Paraná inland waterway network.[sam_ad id=6 codes='true']
As part of its decision to base activity at the Rosario terminal GM also took into consideration the proximity to its nearby Alvear plant, response capacity and the flexibility of operations at the terminal, as well as its competitive rates and the ability to absorb future expanded business. The vehicle manufacturer is now expected to become one of the port's most important customers for container usage.
According to Isela Costantini, president and executive director of GM for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, the deal will help strengthen the port's business activity and also that of the city of Rosario and hopefully cement long terms relations between all concerned.
The move follows agreements signed as part of Project Phoenix, the $450m development of the Alvear plant, which is also to be home to a $270m engine plant. Production of the new Chevrolet Cruze II global model will be based here, with finished vehicles distributed throughout the entire region.
As part of the project GM has signed an agreement outlining which container services and routes would be needed to ship parts and components. MSC and Hamburg Sud shipping companies were chosen to manage the entire logistics chain for both parts and components.
GM first took at look at Rosario in November 2013 when it faced problems in offloading a consignment of finished vehicles at the port of Zárate, in Argentina. The 2,200 cars from South Korea were instead offloaded in Rosario. The whole operation proved so successful that GM thereafter explored ways of using the port again, leading to the current arrangement.
