RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.22
4April 1995
ORGANIZATION(95-0815)
Original: Spanish Negotiating Group onMaritime Transport Services
COMMUNICATION FROM ARGENTINA
Response toQuestionnaire onMaritime Transport Services
Thefollowing communication iscirculated attherequest ofArgentina toMembers ofthe
Negotiating Group onMaritime Transport Services.
______________
I. Market structure
Vessels
1. Atableshowing thecomposition ofthenational fleeton1January 1994 isattached.
Trade
2. 90percentbyvolume ofArgentinean foreign trade iscarried bywater.
3. Thevolume ofimports carried bywater is10,830,666 tonsandthevolume ofexports is
38,032,241 tons, making atotalof48,862,907 tons(1993 data).
Point 4 - Thisinformation isnotavailable.
Point 5 - Thisinformation isnotavailable.
Organization ofcargo
Duetotheprocess ofderegulation ofwaterborne transport, noobligation isplaced onliner
shipping involved incarrying Argentinean foreign trade toprovide theinformation covered bythis
point.
Itshould benoted thatArgentina isnotaparty totheCode ofConduct forLiner Conferences.
Ports andauxiliary services
12. Total national porttraffic forinternational trade cargoes is50,231,903 tons(1993 data).
International traffic inthemajor national ports amounts to45,885,459 tons(noinformation
isavailable ontheshare ofthistraffic which iscontainerized).S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.22
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13.and14.
Theservices referred toareprovided innational portsbyprivate Argentinean enterprises, which
mayinclude foreign shareholders, inaccordance withthelegislation inforce.
II. Regulatory structure
General
1. Thecompetent authority inrespect ofmaritime transport istheMinistry oftheEconomy and
Public Works andServices.
There isspecific legislation onmaritime andriver transport.
2.and3. Thelegislation applies bothtothebulkandlinershipping sectors. Nodistinction is
made according tothetypeofcargo.
4. Abilloninternational multimodal transport isunder examination bytheNational Congress.
5. Portactivities aregoverned byLawNo.24,093, towhich reference hasalready beenmade.
Areas areleased outunder concession inthemajor national portsandareoperated byprivate enterprises.
6. International maritime transport istransport carried outoutside thenational geographical area;
itdoesnot,therefore, include national cabotage, which iscarried outbynational vessels orvessels
withthesame privileges asnational vessels.
7. Anational shipping enterprise isanenterprise setupinaccordance withnational legislation,
withitsheadquarters orapermanent representation inthecountry.
Market access
8.
(a)and(b) Withtheexception ofthecasesindicated under point(c),therearenomeasures limiting
access totheshipping market, asnoted atthebeginning ofthisreply. Maritime transport toandfrom
thecountry isopentoanyvessel sailing under anyflag,which participate under equal conditions with
vessels owned byArgentinean enterprises.
Norarethere anylimits onthenumber ofshipping linesthatmayserve Argentinean foreign
trade routes.
(c) Theonlytransport thatiscurrently governed bybilateral agreements iswithBrazil, Peru, Cuba,
theRussian Federation andthePeople 'sRepublic ofChina. These agreements provide fortheequal
sharing ofbilateral trade cargoes between thevessels operated byshipowners oftheStates Parties.
(d) Inaccordance withthelegislation inforce, vessels operated byArgentinean shipowners can
employ foreign crewmembers, withtheexception ofvessels engaged innational cabotage, inwhich
Argentinean crew members havepriority overforeigners when theyareequally suited tothework.
9. Intheory therearenomeasures ofthistype,except forthetransport referred tounder point (c)
andnational cabotage.S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.22
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10. There arenolimits ontheparticipation offoreign capital.
11. Inorder tohavetherighttoflythenational flag,avessel hastobeincluded intheNational
Shipping Register.
Transportservicesconsistingofcabotage,whicharecarriedoutinterritorialwaters,arereserved
forvessels andnaval artifacts which flyoraretreated asiftheyflythenational flag.
Therequirement thatvessels flythenational flagislimited tonational cabotage andparticipation
intransport governed bythebilateral agreements referred toabove.
National treatment
12. There isnopreferential treatment fornational waterborne transport enterprises, nordothey
benefit from subsidies orpreferential rates.
Likewise, Argentinean shipping enterprises benefit fromloans atlowinterest rates, preferential
taxtreatment orthereimbursement oftaxes.
Access toanduseofportfacilities
13. Alltheservices referred toareavailable inthemajor national ports.
14. Pilotage andtowing inports maybemandatory, depending onthetechnical characteristics
ofvessels.
15.to19. Access tonational ports which areopentopublic useisfreeforallthevessels which
putintothem, whether theyarenational orforeign vessels.
Theservices available intheports areprovided inaccordance withtheratessetineachport
andthere isnodiscrimination onthebasis oftheflagsunder which vessels sail.
There arenoports ofpublic useinrespect ofwhich access anduseisrestricted forforeign
vessels.
Most-favoured-nation treatment
20.and21. Asnoted under point 8(c)"Market Access", bilateral agreements areinforce inour
country which reserve some orallofbilateral trade cargoes between eachofthecountries fornational
shipowners, according totheterms ofeachagreement, intheproportion of50percentforeach
contracting party.
They onlycover bilateral trade cargoes between theRepublic ofArgentina andthesignatory
countries.
22. TheRepublic ofArgentina doesnotapply theprovisions oftheCode ofConduct forLiner
Conferences since itisnotaContracting Party totheCode.
23.and24. Asindicated above, there arenopreferences relating toforeign andnational vessels
asregards access toanduseofportandharbour facilities.S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.22
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25. Theprocedure thatisapplicable intheevent ofonecountry oragroup ofcountries impeding
theparticipation ofvessels sailing under theArgentinean flag,oroperated bynational shipowners,
inmaritimetransportbetweentheRepublicofArgentinaandaspecificcountryorbetweenthirdcountries
isgoverned byDecree No.1930/93. Thislegislation isspecific tomaritime transport.
26. There arenomeasures ofthistype.
27.and28. There arenomeasures ofthistype.
Competition law
29. Thelegislation inforce respecting maritime transport intheRepublic ofArgentina guarantees
andpromotes freecompetition.
Itshould benoted that,asaresult oftheprocess ofthederegulation oftheeconomy, alarge
number ofoutside shipowners areengaged inthetransport ofimports andexports.
Shipping conferences
Thelegislation inforce requires shipping conferences tosubmit theiragreements, ratesand
conditions oftransport, aswellasanychanges made tothem, tothecompetent authority forofficial
approval.
Asprivate institutions, theconferences decide upon theconditions fortheadmission ofnew
members, theirwithdrawal andpenalties forlackofcompliance withagreements, freight ratesand
other conditions contained intheabove agreements, which havetobesubmitted tothecompetent
authority forofficial approval.
Shipper/carrier relations
There arenoinstitutional arrangements governing therelations between shippers andcarriers.
Negotiations onfreight ratesarecarried outdirectly between theparties concerned without
anyintervention bytheGovernment; nevertheless, thepreference given totheenterprises named in
thebilateral agreements referred toabove setsanorder ofpriority which hastobeobserved, prior
totheliberalization oftransport tovessels sailing under theflagofthirdcountries.S/NGMTS/W/2/Add.22
Page5
Argentinean Merchant Navy
(Vessels over1000 gross register tons(GRT) inservice on1January 1994)
Bytypeofvessel
Type ofvessel Units GRT DWT %oftotalDWT
Tankers 46 537,591 892,030 45.81
Bulkcarriers 10 245,685 411,604 21.14
Multi-purpose cargo carriers 18 199,284 318,603 16.36
Semi-specialized bulkcarriers 3 69,717 112,599 5.78
Container ships 2 37,886 49,030 2.52
General cargo carriers 8 41,704 46,461 2.39
Conbulkers 2 27,526 36,664 1.88
Semi-container ships 2 20,626 24,005 1.23
Gascarriers 3 18,560 22,212 1.14
Refrigerated carriers 2 18,026 20,904 1.07
Ro-Ro container carriers 2 5,499 7,877 0.40
Ferries 3 9,511 3,018 0.16
Offshore support vessel 1 1,536 850 0.05
Passenger vessels 2 7,911 1,440 0.07
TOTALS 104 1,241,062 1,947,297 100
Sand carriers arenotincluded asof1January 1993.
Includes Argentinean vessels withtemporary derogations from thenational flagauthorized
bythePNA National Shipping Register inaccordance withDecree No.1772/91 andvessels leased
under theterms ofDecree No.1493/92.