Port dynamics of the Paraná metropolitan coast since 1990

Abstract

The port reform of 1992 has made the recovery of Argentinean ports possible, specifically on the Paraná coast between Buenos Aires and Rosario. Although the trajectory of these two metropolitan ports is well known, it is not the case of the ports located in medium-sized cities in the interval. This article aims to study the port dynamics in this territory in its spatial, institutional and functional dimensions, focusing on two scales: the metropolitan coast and the urban center of Campana-Zárate. The hypothesis is that the coast structures itself around an original model: the port terminals of the coastal medium-sized cities are the most dynamic, both fluvial and maritime, and show a balanced traffic composition between imports and exports. Therefore, these port cities feed on metropolitan processes but also structure theses processes as a place of anchoring the globalized flows. The first objective is to propose a fine typology of the hundred port terminals through a GIS. The second is to analyze the relationships between the major stakeholders in the port processes. The case of Campana-Zárate is very revealing of these relationships at a municipal scale. Several field visits and interviews have allowed us to understand them.