This is the third Argentine distribution centre, following those in Shanghai and Dubai, and the first one in Europe. The new hub will facilitate access of Argentine companies to the European market and increase their export competitiveness.
Thanks to a coordinated effort between the Argentine Foreign Ministry and the Argentine Investment and International Trade Agency (AAICI), a logistics hub is now operating in the Port of Antwerp, Belgium, which will enable Argentine companies to reduce delivery times of their products, obtain new clients with products at destination, speed up negotiations, avoid stockout and improve shipment control.
The Port of Antwerp is the second largest seaport in Europe (after Rotterdam) and the fourth largest seaport at the global level, based on total shipments. Located close to the main trade and consumption centres in the region, the Port of Antwerp is an important distribution centre for continental Europe. Thus it is expected to become a gateway for Argentine products into the European market.
On 1 October officials from the AAICI, Argentine Embassy to Belgium and Flanders Investment & Trade (FIT) concluded the negotiations to formally begin operating the hub, which will consolidate bilateral trade as well as sales to European Union countries.
After a thorough analysis of the main barriers faced by Argentine companies, the AAICI identified that logistics and distribution are the two areas which require further support in relation to exports. With the support of the Argentine Foreign Ministry and the network of Argentine representations abroad, a programme on logistics hubs in strategic markets for Argentine products is being developed.
The logistics hub project provides Argentine companies with a wide range of benefits to improve their conditions to compete in international markets. On the one hand, this programme offers an exclusive line of credit of BICE bank for SMEs, which provides funds to cover 75-100% of export value. On the other hand, it removes barriers related to logistics and distribution of Argentine products abroad such as working with minimum order quantity requirements, conditioning products at destination, avoiding expensive distributors and delaying the payment of tariffs until purchases are made.
The inauguration of the Antwerp hub adds to the hubs in Shanghai and Dubai, whose goal is to increase Argentine exports to Asian and Middle East markets.
Press Release No. 419/18
