Toward the end of August or early September, the work required to merge the import/export cargo terminals at the international airport of Ezeiza should be under way. The work will need an investment of 8 million pesos (approximately U$S 2.25 million) and will allow duplicating the present volumes of capacity in the first stage. Juan Carlos Lomaglio, Edcadassa general manager, explained that the project includes the possibility of developing a second phase that will only be launched “when the volume of cargo shows a certain increase”. No amount was mentioned regarding the investment required for this second stage.

According to Franco Comparato, commercial manager of Edcadassa the merger of the import terminal with that of the exports “is the most important project in the history of the company”. Edcadassa has the concession for the administration of the fiscal warehouses and related activities in the international airports in Argentina until 2009.

It is reckoned that the first phase of the integration process of these import/export warehouses –today over 500 meters apart– will be completed during this year.

“Once the project has become a reality, airlines, customs brokers, importers and exporters, will all benefit directly. The fiscal warehousing concessionaire assured us they have been duplicating a great deal of their resources in order to face the double system of terminals.

Of the six ramps at present forming the area devoted to imports, ramps 2, 4, 5 and 6 will continue receiving goods from abroad, while ramps 1 and 3 will take over products for export. At the exports sector a warehouse exclusively devoted to seed will be built, as well as an animal station for livestock exports, such as polo ponies or horses for show jumping.

The works for both terminals include the purchase of platforms with rolling surfaces on which the pallets will move, and the addition of moving belts and hydraulic elevation plates that will be raised or lowered according to the weight they register, in order to facilitate the task for the workers when the time comes to complete the pallets.

For export services an air-conditioned area (15-20º C) of over 1,000 sq. m. will be created, while for the import area a refrigerated 620-sq. m. warehouse for temperatures between 0 and 8º C will be built, with an antechamber 145 sq. m. A 113-sq.m. cold storage room will also be constructed for frozen imports or for exports needing temperatures 20º below zero.

As to the warehouses that even today are devoted to export cargo, the idea is to de-fiscalize them and hire them out to some enterprise that will use them as national warehouse for its local production. “But we are also looking at other alternatives,” said Comparato.

The company itself took upon itself to emphasize that the financing of the works to be carried out will be done with its “own resources”. In the meantime, Rubén de Laurentis, president of the Edcadassa Board, assured us that there is a commitment “not to modify tariffs until the service shows improvement” despite the amount of money to be invested.

De Laurentis is one of the three State representatives on the Board of Edcadassa, which also comprises two delegates from the Villalonga Furlong Company, owned by Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 and holder of 45% of the Edcadassa stock.