Pushing forward possibilities of the Paraguay-Paraná waterway

By Orpan

The National Customs and the Bolivian Navy coordinate a new regulation to strengthen international trade on the Paraguay-Paraná waterway.

The Paraguay and Parana Rivers jointly form a 3,302-kilometer waterway system connecting Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.  It is a major transportation route for goods from the continent’s interior to the Atlantic Ocean through the Rio de la Plata, and vice versa.

At present, the movement of goods on the waterway includes manufactured products, grains, oilseeds, oils and by-products, ore, minerals, steel, and petroleum.  

In terms of a country-by-country cost-benefit analysis (CBA), Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay show high rates of return, and Bolivia and Paraguay lower ones. Each country recognizes the project’s importance. For some (Bolivia and Paraguay), it is vital for their economies, and each is advancing unilaterally in different ways. Bolivia has not resolved the limitations it has to access the Paraguay River through the Tamengo Channel, which is in Brazilian territory. The Tamengo Channel has been contentious due to its physical characteristics, in particular its width, which is decidedly less than that of the Paraná and Paraguay Rivers. Growth prospects of soy and iron ore output originating in Bolivian territory are very favorable