A Free Zone in Argentina Wants a Piece of the Lithium Boom

FTZ News: PTP Group Logistics has proposed the Santa Fe free zone at Villa Constitución as a place to hold and ship soda ash, also called sodium carbonate, an industrial chemical used in lithium processing and in glass and chemical plants.

According to DataPortuaria, which published the report on Oct. 5, the company said the terminal could supply Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. It cited lithium projects in Catamarca, Salta and Jujuy, along with demand from glass and chemical makers. The item is labeled a two-minute read.

The photograph is credited to PTP Group Logistics. The terminal is at kilometer 366 of the Paraná-Paraguay waterway. PTP said the dock is 140 meters by 30 meters and can handle ships up to 230 meters long. The draft is 34 feet at the waterway’s zero mark. The company said there is no air-draft restriction. It put unloading capacity at as much as 10,000 tons a day. Storage covers more than 40,000 square meters.

That includes a 22,000-square-meter shed that can hold 120,000 tons. PTP also said a dock expansion is planned, without giving a timetable. Under the free-zone rules, cargo can be stored with no time limit. Duties can be deferred. Value-added tax and internal taxes are not charged while the goods remain on the site. The proposal came after the World Soda Ash Conference in Valencia, Spain.

Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS, a Dow Jones company, organized it. Oscar Michel and Federico Gomez attended for PTP Group Logistics, along with producers, traders and buyers of the chemical. PTP said the conference pointed to new production coming on in the United States, China, the Middle East and Africa. The company listed lithium and energy storage, solar glass, and flat and container glass as sources of demand, and said shipping and port handling would decide which suppliers can compete. The report is based on what the company told DataPortuaria. No customer and no supply contract appear in it.