Puerto Galván inauguration postponed

The opening of a new multipurpose pier at Puerto Galván, in the south of Argentina's Buenos Aires province, has been postponed and will now be held between September 5 and 15, CGPBB port authority official Edgardo Españolo told BNamericas. "We wanted to inaugurate the new facilities today [September 1] because it is the 12th anniversary of the creation of CGPBB," said Españolo, head of operations at the consortium in charge of management and development of the port facilities. "The governor of the province [Felipe Solá] could not attend so we will hold the ceremony between September 5 and 15," the official said. "It's a shame, but we expect to celebrate both events together on the new date," he added. The event was also planned to be the stage for announcements on a bidding process to find a firm to operate the multipurpose dock, "but we still expect some statement on this process during the newly arranged event," Españolo said. The new pier cost a total of US$11mn and was financed with the company's own funds. He added that the port was of great interest to a range of companies in the sector, partly because of the multi-modal transport connections available and also because of the draft of the harbor, at some 45 feet (13.7m), which is apt for large ships. Puerto Galván lies just 7km from Bahía Blanca, an important city in the south of Buenos Aires province, which in turn is 650km south of the capital, Buenos Aires.