In the midst of the privatization process driven by the national government, Belgrano Cargas has become the object of desire for the agribusiness sector. According to reports that emerged this Thursday, a consortium made up of industry giants — comprising Bunge, Cargill, ACA (Asociación de Cooperativas Argentinas), AGD (Aceitera General Deheza), and Louis Dreyfus — is emerging as one of the strongest interested parties in securing the concession for the network.
Why is San Lorenzo closely watching this privatization?
The news is not unfamiliar to our region. Greater Rosario, with the ports of San Lorenzo, Timbúes, and Puerto San Martín at the forefront, is the final destination for most of the production transported by Belgrano Cargas. Any change in the administration of the railway lines directly impacts the efficiency, costs, and pace of unloading at our port terminals.
For major exporters, the train is a critical link. Today, the cereal consortium’s goal is to transform a network that has been “left in the past” into a modern freight highway that lowers logistical costs — which currently represent a heavy burden on the competitiveness of the agricultural sector — and doubles operational capacity in the next 18 months.
The bet of the “five giants”
The consortium is not seeking full control of Belgrano Cargas, but is focused exclusively on the cereal corridor that leads to our area. The strategy is clear: prevent the lack of infrastructure from continuing to be a bottleneck for production that, year after year, puts increasing pressure on the capacity of local ports.
This is not the first time these players have taken a leading role in infrastructure. In recent years, due to the lack of state investment, they had already begun financing the purchase of Chinese wagons and basic improvements such as “freight advances,” a sign that the private sector was willing to invest capital where the State could not. Now, with the tender underway, the goal is to formalize that control.
What’s ahead
The government aims to finalize this adjudication process before 2027, with the objective of shedding the current transfers that the State allocates to maintain an inefficient network. The official idea is to open the field to different operators so there is no “single closed package,” allowing competition among logistics companies, railway operators, and, as in this case, the intensive cargo users themselves.
While the tender documents and conditions are being defined in Buenos Aires, expectations are high in the Industrial Belt: an efficient railway network not only means more tons arriving at our ports, but also an optimization of transport that, in theory, should ease the logistical pressure currently affecting the entire region.