The main deep-sea port of Argentina is situated in Bahía Blanca, a region located around 600 km South of Buenos Aires City. Within the estuary of Bahía Blanca, three clear distinct port industrial areas can be identified: Bahía Blanca, Puerto Belgrano (largest Argentine Navy port facility) and Puerto Rosales. In addition, it is important to mention that this maritime industrial complex is the first Argentine public port in terms of tonnage, with a throughput of around 27 million tons in 2016.
Recent changes in the national context and in the port governance led the Port Authority to initiate a new strategic planning process throughout an international tender. Port Consultants Rotterdam, was awarded the contract due to the innovative suggested methodology and the Dutch-Argentine expert team proposed for carrying on the project. As a direct consequence, the strategic planning process included the development of a long-term Port Vision inspired in Rotterdam´s methodology, but heavily adapted to local conditions. This process, first of its kind in the Spanish speaking world, has been performed with a strong participation of the stakeholders and following the PIANC Working with Nature Philosophy. Consequently, and due to the singularity of this project, the current paper elaborates the main outcomes of the Port Vision Bahía Blanca 2040.
The location and site conditions of Bahía Blanca are of special importance for the new challenges faced by Argentina such as the increase of efficiency in the farming areas of the country with its consequential high-rocketing on crops´ production, the potential development of one of the largest worldwide proved reserves of shale gas and oil and the progressive transformation of the energy sector towards renewable sources. Therefore, the study of main trends and developments, both globally and regionally, combined with a clear understanding of the port and the country, led to the identification of the main Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats for the port-industrial complex.
Thereafter, a comprehensive long-term Port Vision has been shaped around three main core visions. Firstly, and in accordance to the exploitation of the shale gas and oil with its associated attractiveness for the chemical industry, Bahía Blanca will develop into the Argentine Port-Industrial Cluster. Secondly, a favourable investment climate with the strengthening of the connections to the most productive agricultural regions in the country will enable a larger cargo flow of raw material to the port that will support the development of the agroindustry, gradually shifting the functions of port-industrial complex to a fully integrated Food Port. These two factors together with the development of new logistic centres and distriparks, not only in the nearby areas but also inland, will lead to the development of a Multimodal Logistic Hub.
Despite all the diagnosed potential developments in the years to come for Bahía Blanca, many actions need to be taken in order to partially capitalize them. Consequently, five key success factors have been identified to support the achievement of the Port Vision Bahía Blanca 2040. These key success factors are: Investment Climate, Port Governance, Environment & Sustainability, Connections & Logistic and City and the Region. The active and strong participation of all the stakeholders to identify win-win solutions for each of the key success factors was already one of the achieved milestones during the Strategic Planning process. However, the challenge remained on how the stakeholders will stay engaged at the same, surprisingly high, rate of participation.
Therefore, for the implementation phase, throughout an Action Plan, a strong commitment was achieved with a shared and comprehensive agenda. The great success of this case study highlights the importance of creating synergies within the port community. It also stresses the relevance of consolidating stable and trustworthy port authorities like the Consorcio de Gestión del Puerto de Bahía Blanca. The existence of this long-lasting and professional governmental organization allowed to articulate all the needed pieces within the port community in order to lead the process for strategic long-term planning, not only for the port-industrial complex, but for the region as a whole.
To conclude, the Port Vision Bahía Blanca 2040 and any other long-term Port Vision, has to be shared with the business community, but, more significantly, with the people living in the region and its political institutions in order to maintain the license-to-operate and the license-to-grow climate for achieving a long-term sustainable growth to enhance the benefits of the generations to come through the derived added-value for society at the port-industrial complex. In other words, its objective is to bring confidence among the port community while improving the quality of life in the region. Consequently, and to pursue this ultimate goal, the Port Vision Bahia Blanca 2040 has to be broadly shared for common knowledge turning into a document of easy access. (http://puertobahiablanca.com/vision_portuaria_2040/).