South America

The Paraná/Paraguay

Gallery

Length:

3442 kilometres, with 2,202 km to the border with Paraguay and Argentina
Navigability:

Not yet optimal along the river . The Project Hidrovia, estimated to 1 billion $, is supposed to guaranty the day and night navigation on the rivers during the whole year for convoys
Countries crossed:

Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay
Inland navigation authority:

CIH Comité Intergubernamental de la Hidrovía Paraguay-Paraná http://www.sspyvn.gov.ar/hparana_paraguay.html
Traffic:

About 20 000 000 tons/year
Facts of importance:

The Paraguay‐Paraná inland waterway is one of the most extensive and important continental axes of political, social and economic integration. Historically, it has the basins of the Latin America colonisation. It cuts through half of South America.
 
It has great potential to drain the production of soya as well as mineral products (iron and manganese ore) and fuels but investments are needed. This region is today producing about 50% of the soya in the world. For that reason, an international navigation agreement have been settled in the region with the creation in 1989 of the Intergovernmental Committee CIH.
Main challenges for the future:

  • -Develop infrastructures of transport and energy to supress the existing bottlenecks
  • -Develop infrastructures of transport and energy to supress the existing bottlenecks
  • -Foster the regional integration
  • -Overcome the regional rivalries
  • -Modernize the equipment
carte South America
grip-photo

Volumes-tranported-on-the-Hidrovia-Parana-Paraguay-in-2002

Source: Iniciativa para la Integración de la Infraestructura Regional Suramericana