An intense traffic does not give respite to that bridge that is almost 80 years old. Some 270,000 trucks, 90,000 tourist buses and thousands of private vehicles pass through this international crossing every year.
This weekend, “surprisingly” the bridge was closed to truck traffic due to breakage problems. This time, the problem was in the header on the Brazilian side, but it has also occurred on the Argentine side.
For those of us who work on that border, in the permanent coming and going of import and export trucks, with documented shipments and scheduled loads, this situation is unsustainable, since a surprise cut means substantial monetary losses.
Not to think if that repair takes several days, or worse still, the time in the rehabilitation cannot be determined and the entire logistics flow must be diverted to another border. Large losses for the entire spectrum of foreign trade.
Stopping the crossing of 1,000 or 1,200 trucks a day is a great loss due to lost profits, the costs of drivers, parking lots and insufficient infrastructure to contain that fleet. But also, it brings delays in the supply of industries, in exports and of course it generates higher inflation.
The question is: Who is in charge of this? What is the cause of the eternal postponement in the works? Lack of federalism? Political fights? Lack of strategic vision?
The demands of businessmen in the sector have been constant: orders, meetings, letters, official letters, and a long list of actions – both from the public and private spheres – so that the bridge is taken care of as it should. However, the result is in sight.
The commercial exchange with Brazil is increasing, this is shown by the statistics, and clearly, it can be seen in the incessant coming and going of trucks.
The Getulio Vargas International Bridge, the main artery that connects us with Brazil, urgently needs structural attention, with the investment it deserves, not only for current commercial exchange but for future projection. The more investment, the more growth possibilities for the economy of the border cities, the country and the region.
In the last few hours, the third National Highway tender was announced (belatedly) for the repair of the Argentine section. There were two previous ones that did not materialize. We hope that this call is the definitive one and that it thoroughly solves this problem, taking into account the demands for the incessant movement of the international crossing.
Also, it would be necessary for both countries to work together, plan all the works together, and why not, think about the construction of a new bridge to the largest dry port in South America.
Logistics Entrepreneur, President of CALIBER and Specialist in Mercosur.
Source: Ambito
