The 200 pesos ($24) that truck driver Hector Jofre usually carries to bribe gang members or shanty dwellers for access to Argentina’s biggest grain port did no good one night in April.
Six youths in a pickup climbed on the back of the rig when Jofre slowed near a railroad track. They opened hatches that spilled 10 metric tonnes of corn onto 100 metres of road and swept up as much as they could. Jofre says that it took three more deliveries without pay to compensate his employer for the loss.
“It used to happen once a month,” said Jofre, 31. “Now it’s every day. Truckers are getting spooked.”
Truck drivers in Argentina, the world’s third-largest exporter of corn and soybeans, say that theft and extortion are on the rise at the main port, Rosario. While police have pledged to step up security, escalating crime has boosted shipping fees and compounded delays at terminals, threatening the country’s biggest source of dollar income at a time when Argentina’s debt crisis has sent central-bank reserves near an eight-year low.
As grain supplies arrive from a harvest that is almost complete, thieves are targeting cargo, fuel and personal belongings on trucks headed into Rosario, where increasing drug trafficking led to a doubling of the murder rate in three years. The river city handles 80 per cent of agricultural exports and is known as Argentina’s Chicago -- the deadliest municipality in the US -- for its link with commodities and crime.
Jeopardising Profit
While data on agricultural crime isn’t available, police and port authorities interviewed by Bloomberg News say that incidents are on the rise, affecting deliveries to grain handlers including Cargill Inc. and Archer-Daniels Midland Co. Even railway owner Belgrano Cargas & Logistica added security after convoys were looted in the province of Santa Fe, which includes Rosario.
“The federal and provincial governments need to get a grip on the situation,” said Ernesto Ambrosetti, chief economist at the Rural Society, the largest farming group. “It isn’t just jeopardising public safety, but also the ability of the nation’s agricultural industry to operate profitably.”
Government and police officials pledged to step up security near Rosario’s 28 export terminals after meeting with drivers in August, the Federation of Argentine Truck Drivers, which represents about 6,000 drivers, said in a statement. After receiving the assurances, the union said that it cancelled a planned strike to protest the crime wave.
Bloomberg News edited by ESM
