Carriers analyze blocking bridges connecting Uruguay with Argentina

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Uruguay’s International Land Transport Chamber (Catidu) is analyzing blocking the Libertador General San Martín international bridge connecting Fray Bentos (Río Negro) with Gualeguaychú (Argentina), as well as other bridges linking the two countries, to demand compensatory measures for the sector, currently declared to be “in crisis.”

The trucking entrepreneurs argue that they are at an “unfair disadvantage” with competitors from the neighboring country due to the exchange rate difference, among other factors, and that the Uruguay government must therefore take “action on the matter,” as it pledged to do months ago, according to Catidu chairman Mauro Borzacconi.

“We proposed that Argentine companies should be required to transfer funds to banks, in order to be paid according to the official exchange rate, and receive revenue directly in pesos,” said Borzacconi, who added that “otherwise they make an outrageous profit that allows them to offer lower rates and, in fact, they currently hold 90% of the Uruguay-Argentina transport market, when before the pandemic it was shared 50% with domestic companies,” the entrepreneur added.

In a statement released by the Chamber, it was stated that the Ministry of Economy has not yet taken measures to guarantee “fair competition with the region’s companies operating in the country.”

They claim “to preserve the viability” of transport companies and “of the more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs they generate.” Specifically, it requests “to control informality and minimize the inequality of costs currently in place with respect to Argentina.”

This noon, the carriers’ board will hold an assembly to assess the bridge blockade and the date on which it will be implemented.