35 thousand tons of pines leave for China
It was successful the rail transport of the rolos from Tacuarembó to the port
Successfully completed the shipment of 35 thousand tons of pine logs bound for China and the ship “African Jay” sailed yesterday Sunday after several days of operations in Mueolle C, We say that it was a proof of improvement because except two essential requirements for those who export that is reduction of port operating costs through efficiency in loading and competitiveness: the magic figure was 7 thousand tons per day received by the ship. So we put ourselves at or under the operating costs offered by New Zealand, which is another Chinese supplier of wood. And this was despite the frustrating weather conditions in Montevideo that forced several times to suspend the operation due to rain: in the first 48 hours of operation 23 hours were lost and even then there was the will of the operators and workers to recover lost time. And we say this because it should not be ignored that the buyers of the merchandise take care severely of port operating costs and often refuse to pay them when they are excessive, in which case they are costs that the exporter must pay with the risk of increasing the values of the exported merchandise and this is how the competition of other exporting countries comes into play.
REFLECTIONS Well in this third export, including a Railway Pilot Operation, which specifies the exporter Muradir and performs the Pantzin Operator, has had a well adjusted development and that ensures that there will be more shipments of pines; In fact, in the first three days of May, a ship will come with the fourth packing of 32 thousand tons. We were in the port to watch the operations and take pictures of the present shipment of the trunks and we really found ourselves with a stunning scene on Pier C filled with dozens of trucks full of trunks. It was opportune then an inevitable moment of reflection and is that the business of the pines is not only that but also the multitude of human resources mobilized from the cut of the pines until its putting in the cellars of the ship and the surprise is capital. These 35 thousand tons of pines required for transport from interior departments, especially from the north, to the stockpile in the Camino de la Petiza (Cerro) and then from here to the port the emplo of about 1200 trucks or its equivalent in drivers, their unloading and loading in the stockpile and finally dozens of stevedores who in different shifts accommodated the logs in the holds and handled the winches of the ship making a total of hundreds and hundreds of wages to put the 35 thousand tons aboard the ship.
The pines have two measures, the largest of which is 5.90 meters long, a diameter of not less than 20 centimeters at the tips where we saw that they are numbered one by one and according to the circles we have on the face of the trunk identifies their age and We saw in two or three cases that they were not less than 14 years old or that they were planted by the year 2 thousand.
PILOT OPERATION. For the first time, a pilot operation of transporting directly to the port of Montevideo from Tranqueras in Tacuarembo a train with 27 wagons each transporting 2 bundles of 15 tons of pines, was carried out for the first time in this third shipment of pines made by Muradir. On the subject we talked with the director of this export company Francisco Rodriguez Morena who pointed out that the functional part was perfect, the cargo did not move, arrived in Montevideo in the conditions we gave him in Tranqueras and we hope that this experience will be repeated with two or three weekly frequencies. We are satisfied with the results. Naturally, the commercial part that is not decided yet remains pending negotiation, but if, by the way, we believe that this means of transport will make the extraction of wood feasible. The railway is very apt. The other point that should be emphasized is that the railroad track is not better than the truck, at least in this case, but complementary. Both means of transport work perfectly for the transpoirte of the trunks.
CLARIFICATION. Although we did not state that the 27 cars used by AFE in the Pilot Operation have come from Slovakia, we must clarify whether these wagons, according to reliable sources of AFE were acquired by Uruguay to the United States Army and recycled and adapted in the workshops of AFE by Uruguayans. We remind readers that during the 1980s, the United States Army purchased about 1050 ‘wagons that went to Europe and each one was worth 22,000 dollars, but the Uruguayan government agreed to pay only 2,000 dollars per unit. That material and two locomotives were brought to Montevideo in the Uruguayan ships “Tacuari” and “Punta del Este” that operated the gigantic crane of UTE installed in the dock of scales today Terminal TCP. They are only data.
CREDITS, The transport of the logs, both by rail and by truck, were widely satisfactory and this is confirmed by the exporters and cargo operators and even the captain of the ship “African Jay”. As journalists we have been in contact with this shipment with presence in the port and we have discovered in its functional and commercial process the merits of the participating actors as a successful work with the effort of all. The director of Muradir Francisco Fernandez Morena all the time, all the hours in the cut of the trunks, transport and port operations almost night and day, his partner Maria Gabriela Quinke in the contacts with the Chinese, documents, sales, anterncion of external markets , negotiations, relations, Christian de Marchis Technical Assistant Director (AFE), Nestor R. Bentancourt Manager of Operations and Logistics and Dra. Silvia Etchebarne Vivian, Advice llegal on maritime and port issues.
