Coronavirus inspections of ships in Argentine contribute to soya supply woes

Argentine shipments of soyameal, soyabeans, corn and other agricultural exports were delayed as the government ramps up inspections of incoming cargo ships to ensure crew members were free of coronavirus, industry sources said on Monday.
While Argentine growers were harvesting Southern Hemisphere fall crops unimpeded by health measures taken against the pandemic, supply from the world's biggest exporter of soyameal livestock feed was slowed as some municipal authorities refused to let grains trucks drive through their jurisdictions.
Coast guard inspection of ships contributed to concerns about supply bottlenecks after dozens of towns around the Rosario ports hub, where most of Argentina's grains shipments are loaded, defied a government order issued last week saying that export activities should not be interrupted.
As of Friday, the scheduled loading of 21 vessels had been delayed in Rosario, according to data from the local NABSA maritime agency. A Rosario-based ports industry official, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation, said each vessel being inspected was delayed by about one day.
Labor unions representing white-collar port workers, stevedores, tugboat crew members and grains elevator operators have requested a 14-day quarantine of ships entering the country due to coronavirus, according to an internal report, seen by Reuters, from Argentina's CIARA-CEC export companies' chamber.
"We understand that the government is working to have all these parties aligned with national protocol and avoid unilateral measures, which is not an easy task," it said.
The country is infamous for frequent labor strikes, which have helped hobble an economy counted as one of the strongest in the world a century ago.
Shipping interruptions from Argentina, home to the world's biggest and most efficient soyameal manufacturing plants, could throw off trade flows as chicken, hog and cattle feed importers, particularly in Europe and Southeast Asia, look to rival exporters Brazil and the United States to fill supply gaps.
Argentina is also the world's No. 3 exporter of corn and raw soyabeans. The pandemic strikes at the worst possible time for the country as farmers bring in this season's soya and corn and the government seeks to jumpstart an economy that was already shrinking before the pandemic and avoid defaulting on its bonds.
Coast guard inspectors boarded ships including "Cosco Shipping" and "General Croatia", sailing under Hong Kong and Malta flags, respectively, and examined their crews. "It was verified that all are without symptoms," the government said in a statement emailed to reporters over the weekend.