ANPyN Formalizes Control Council for Argentina's Trunk Navigation Channel

Argentina's National Ports and Navigation Agency (Anpyn) formalized, through Resolution 59/2026, published in the Official Gazette, the establishment of the Control Council for the Trunk Navigation Channel, a body created to foster institutional participation by the State, the provinces and users linked to this infrastructure. The council was structured into four sectors: provinces, system users, technical and social areas, and the enforcement and oversight authority, and a term of ten calendar days was set for the entities called upon to designate their representatives.

In the provincial sector, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Misiones, Corrientes, Formosa and Buenos Aires were included. Among the users, the Bolsa de Comercio de Rosario, the Cámara de la Industria Aceitera de la República Argentina, the Unión Industrial Argentina, Confederaciones Rurales Argentinas, the Cámara de Puertos Privados Comerciales and the Comisión Permanente de Transporte de la Cuenca del Plata were incorporated. The technical and social tier was made up of the Sindicato del Personal de Dragado y Balizamiento, the Prefectura Naval Argentina, the Cámara de Actividades de Practicaje y Pilotaje and the Servicio de Hidrografía Naval, while Anpyn's Gerencia de Coordinación Técnica represents the enforcement and oversight authority. For the Southern Stretch, the Cámara Naviera Argentina, the Centro de Navegación, APM Terminals and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company were called upon, and were to decide among themselves who would hold that representation.

The composition set out drew criticism: Chaco had been invited on August 26 along with the other provinces, but did not appear among the parties listed in Resolution 59/2026. Industry sources told Comex Online that there was discontent within Argentina's Foreign Ministry over the fact that no representation linked to the Intergovernmental Commission of the Hidrovía had been included, within a river system shared by Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The resolution was also criticized for expressly naming the private company LHG Mining within the mechanism for determining representation of the Northern Stretch, and Julio Delfino, first vice president of the Centro de Navegación, raised concerns over the lack of clarity as to who would represent shipowners on the Southern Stretch.

On October 21, through Resolution 62/2026, Anpyn's executive director, Iñaki Miguel Arreseygor, retroactively corrected Resolution 59/2026, attributing Chaco's exclusion to a clerical error; the province was added to the provincial sector, which now comprises seven jurisdictions. The user sector was reorganized into blocks: the Mesa de Enlace, representing the agricultural sector, grouped together Coninagro, the Federación Agraria Argentina, Confederaciones Rurales Argentinas and the Sociedad Rural Argentina; the Northern Stretch was made up of the Comisión Permanente de Transporte de la Cuenca del Plata together with the Centro de Armadores Fluviales y Marítimos del Paraguay and LHG Mining; and the Southern Stretch grouped the Cámara Naviera Argentina, the Centro de Navegación, APM Terminals and MSC into a single seat. With these changes, the Council went from 17 to 19 seats, with a total of 27 organizations comprising entities, chambers, provinces and companies.

The Council's mission is to monitor, analyze and exchange information on the operation, development and performance of the Trunk Navigation Channel, which concentrates around 60 port terminals and through which roughly 80% of Argentina's exports are shipped. The stretch under its oversight corresponds to the concession awarded on June 18 through Resolution 36/2026, running from kilometer 1238 of the Paraná River, at Confluencia, to the Natural Deepwater Area of the outer Río de la Plata, near kilometer 239.1 of the Punta Indio Channel.