The National Agency for Ports and Navigation (ANPYN) has ordered a comprehensive internal audit of the entire process related to the bidding and imminent award of the concession for the Trunk Navigable Waterway (VNT), the route through which nearly 80% of Argentina’s foreign trade flows.
The measure is presented as a reinforcement of the transparency of the process at a time when Envelope No. 3 has been opened, the two bidders are tied on their economic proposals for the toll, and the advantage positioning the Jan De Nul-Servimagnus consortium as the likely winner lies in its technical proposal and experience.
What ANPYN Ordered
According to the Agency itself, the review will cover every stage of the process in accordance with current regulations and will not interrupt its progress or alter the established deadlines.
ANPYN’s Executive Director, Iñaki Arreseygor, told users that the procedure is “open and transparent” and that any interested party can review it to verify that each step has followed international best practices. Once the audit is completed, the Agency will proceed with the award to the most advantageous bid according to the tender documents.
This instance has also been incorporated into the Control Council, the body through which private users and provinces provide ongoing oversight of the process.
No Challenges
The communiqué piles up endorsements: support from users, producers, chambers of commerce, and provincial governments; a multisectoral consultation process presented as a record; and the participation of UNCTAD.
It is worth clarifying the scope of each element. UNCTAD signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ANPYN in May 2025, participated in the Dialogue Roundtables, and issued a report of Recommendations and Best Practices (IF-2025-134138782): a technical accompaniment that the Government interprets as an endorsement.
To validate the process, the Government highlights that it was carried out “without any challenges whatsoever,” which allows for a more nuanced reading: it is true that there were no formal challenges, but both prequalified bidders submitted comments when Envelope No. 2 was opened.
At the time, the Evaluation Commission analyzed them but rejected them on procedural grounds: they were not accompanied by the challenge guarantee required by the tender documents, a requirement without which such submissions are not considered valid challenges. There were indeed no formal challenges; there were objections that did not reach that procedural status.
Forced to Overact
Tension has emerged and remains inevitable. A comprehensive audit of everything done so far is not the natural culmination of a flawless process: it is an additional layer of control added when there is something to protect. Why is a legal security shield necessary in the face of potential challenges from the consortia once the award is known, in a file that has already carried geopolitical tension?
The picture explains it. In Envelope No. 3, Jan De Nul-Servimagnus and DEME offered the same toll — US$3.80 per ton, about 50 cents below the current rate — so the decision was left to the technical score, where the Belgian-Argentine consortium obtained a considerable advantage.
With the economic proposals tied and the dispute over alleged Chinese links in the background, the loser will have both reasons and a platform to contest the result. An award preceded by an internal audit is, in that scenario, much harder to challenge.
Users Push for the Award
Sectoral pressure runs in the opposite direction of any delay.
After the opening of Envelope No. 3, representatives from UIA, Sociedad Rural, the Rosario Stock Exchange, CIARA, the Navigation Center, CPPC, CAPyM, and the Argentine Chamber of Shipping, along with littoral provinces, urged ANPYN to move forward with the award, arguing that Argentina’s competitiveness cannot continue to be postponed.
Users and provinces endorsed the evaluation stages and called for the contract to be closed. The Agency maintains that the audit will not make them wait.