International Container Terminal Services, Inc.’s (ICTSI) Argentine subsidiary, TecPlata, is connecting the ports of Brazil and Asia via a new feeder service.

Specifically, Tecplata, which operates at the Port of La Plata, is collaborating with Brazil's Sta. Fe Port Administrative Entity to connect the latter's port to the rest of Brazil and Asia via the new service.

The two have signed an agreement establishing the service that would make a minimum of two calls per month using 500-TEU barges operated by Newport Management.

"The opportunity to reactivate the Port of Santa Fe is very important to start this new logistics circuit connecting the export cargo of the province with Brazil through a transfer in TecPlata," explained Bruno Porchietto, TecPlata chief executive officer.

Export cargo from the Container and General Cargo Terminal at the Port of Santa Fe will be transported by barge to TecPlata, where it will connect to Log-in existing regional shipping network to Brazil.

Cargo destined for Asia will then be trans-shipped from the Port of Santos in São Paulo through the service operated by Evergreen.

The collaboration benefits shipping companies, carriers, importers, exporters, and other foreign trade agents.

The service would also offer reduced costs to exporting companies and logistics operators in the region by taking advantage of the efficiencies and the favorable tariff of TecPlata.

In October 2008, TecPlata S.A. was granted a 30-year concession to build and operate an all-purpose port terminal in the greater Buenos Aires area in Argentina by the Consorcio de Gestion del Puerto La Plata.

Built with an investment of US$450 million, TecPlata is Argentina’s most modern container terminal with an initial capacity of 450,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) capacity, and capable of being extended of up to 1 million TEUs in the second phase.