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The
navigable network of the Paraguay-Paraná Waterway is comprised by
two systems: the first consists of the Paraná River and its
tributaries, from its source to the River Plate, and the second
consists of the Paraguay River and its tributaries up to the point
where it joins the Paraná River. The network of rivers that
culminates in port of Nueva Palmira is complemented by the Uruguay
River, whose Argentine and Uruguayan coasts have several ports that
work with commodities produced in their areas of influence. The
Uruguay river is navigable from the Salto Grande dam up to the point
where it joins the River Plate (Nueva Palmira).
The backbone of navigation toward the interior of the continent
consists of the Paraná River and its main tributary Paraguay River,
and commodities can be transported on these rivers without problems.
As a consequence of the building of Salto Grande hydroelectric dam,
the Uruguay River is a navigable up to the port of Salto port (km
355), but traffic is important only up to Uruguayan port of Fray
Bentos (km 99).
The
Paraná-Paraguay Waterway has two alternative routes to reach the
sea: by the Paraná las Palmas River and the Mitre Canal, to the
access canal to Buenos Aires, or by the Paraná Bravo River and the
canals Martín García and the Farallón, up to the beginning of the
same access canal. From there the route to the sea is the same,
through the canals Intermedio and Punta Indio. The current depth in
these canals is 32 feet. |