Bolivia Port Assessment

For information on Bolivia Ports, please see the following links:

2.1 Chile Port of Puerto Arica (English)

2.1.1 Peru Port of Matarani (English)

Bolivia Aviation 

Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil DGAC, is the Civil Aviation Authority in Bolivia, dependent of the Vice Ministry of Communications and Civil Aeronautics, responsible for the control, regulation of the civil aeronautical activities and the aero-commercial exploitation.

The agency responsible for the administration of public aerodromes of support services, air navigation protection and control of the airspace over national territory, is the Administradora de Aeropuertos y Servicios Auxiliares de la Navegación Aérea AASANA (Administrator of Airports and Auxiliary Services of Air Navigation), being in control of the total or partial concession of controlled airports, and of public use.

For information on Bolivia aviation Contact details, please see the following link: 

4.5 Bolivia Airport Company Contact List

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Ground Companies CBBA 140930

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Ground Companies LPZ 140930

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Ground Companies SCZ 140930

Procedures for Foreign Registered Aircraft

Send a Request to the Executive Director of DGAC, mentioning the following information

• Name or trade name of the operator

• Commercial Address, Telephone and Fax of the Operator

• Type and Registration of the aircraft

• PBMD (MTOW) of the Aircraft

• Pilot (crew)

• Date of Entry

• Airport Entrance to Bolivia

• Exit Airport from Bolivia

• Last Landing Airport before entering Bolivia

• Flight Purpose

• Number of Passengers

• Type and load weight (if applicable)

• Date of Exit of Bolivia

With the authorization response, go to the offices of the Civil Aeronautic General Direction to proceed with the registration. After the arrival of the aircraft at the airport of entry, the DGAC personnel shall proceed to the corresponding inspection and verification of the documentation

The documentation to be submitted is as follows:

• Certificate of registration of the aircraft

• Certificate of existing airworthiness of the aircraft

• Insurance Policy of the Aircraft in effect, including geographic boundaries and the registration of the aircraft

• License and medical validity of the crew

If entry operations take place in "EL ALTO" airport of the city of La Paz, the Appendix on Operation in High Altitude shall be attached. (contained in the AFM of the aircraft)

Bolivia Road Network

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Mapa Red Vial Fundamental 140930

For information on Bolivia road network contact details, please see the following link:

4.2.1 Bolivia Government Contact List

The basic Road Network has an extension of 16.054,35 km and it runs all over the country. Five main corridors constitute it: East - West, North - South, West - North West - South and Central - South.
The purpose of these corridors is to connect the national territory and integrate the Bolivian population; but essentially push through these economic, social and productive development of all and each of the Bolivian regions.
The basic Road Network (RVF) is part of the National Highway System and is under the responsibility of the Bolivian Road Administrator (ABC).
Article 2 of the Supreme Decree No. 25134 establishes that the routes that make up the RVF are those that connect the political capitals of departments; they allow the international linkage, connecting national highways with the main routes of neighboring countries; connect two or more roads and comply with the conditions of environmental protection laid down in national legislation.

Distance Matrix

Travel Time Matrix

Road Security

Conservation Road with Microenterprises Program - PROVIAL is in charge of the management and control of micro-enterprises who perform road maintenance activities, and aims at preventing premature deterioration of the roads.

Among its main activities are: cleaning of ditches, gutters, downspouts, clearing, repair and construction of walls and others.

Weighbridges and Axle Load Limits

Decree Supreme # 25629 of December 24^th,1999, establishes the control regulation of weights and dimensions of vehicles travelling on the roads of the country

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Limites de peso transporte Comunidad Andina 140930

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Tolerancia peso carreteras Chile 140930

Road Class and Surface Conditions

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Mapa Longitud RVF 140930

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Mapa Corredores RVF 140930

Bolivia Railway Assessment

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Mapa ferroviario zona andina 140930

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Mapa Ferroviario zona oriental 140930

According to the current mode of operation, the State retains ownership of all routes and fixed installations, as well as perceives tax rates for the grant, license and rental of rolling stock; on its part the awarded company commits itself to manage services according to the requirements stipulated in the contract, fulfilling the regulations of the Superintendence of Transport.

The current railway system in Bolivia is managed by the private sector, according to contracts signed by the Bolivian Government

For information on Bolivia railway network contact details, please see the following link:

4.1 Bolivia Government Contact List

4.10 Bolivia Railway Company Contact List

Travel Time Matrix

Railway Companies and Consortia

Andean Railway Company S.A. established in Bolivia, administered and operated by its own workers and executives, autonomous and private.

Freight rates as well as passenger rates are regulated and approved by the Superintendence of Transport. These have ranges according to the type of load, on the basis of the load classifier and directly based on the distance.

Freight rates are currently below the maximum reference rates approved by the Superintendence of Transport, due to land transport competition, looking for a better positioning of services, the type of product, tonnage, distance, regularity of service, rotation of the rolling stock and the uptake of larger volumes, which use other transportation means.

The strategy to compete with road transport, despite the comparative advantage of the transport door to door, its low fixed costs and its informality, is that FCA can move large volumes of load and search the flexibility to perform the bimodal transport.

They have the authorization of the Vice Ministry of Transport, enabling them as OTM (Multimodal Transport Operator) and the Foreign Trade Operator License issued by the National Customs.

Capacity Table

Key Route Information

Rigid attachments - which get nailed or screwed into the sleeper/heavy beam.

Elastic fasteners-the Pandrol Clips consist of a sleeper anchor element and an elastic element that works under combined bending and torsion, manufactured of high quality steel bar.

The Clip is applied parallel to the rail and its placement and removal is done with a lag.                                                                                                                               

Uyuni Workshop: The main activity is oriented to the maintenance and repair of the equipment being towed from the Park of the company (in general cargo wagons).

Viacha Workshop: specializing in repair, maintenance and overhaul of locomotives, diesel, electric LDE

Key Stations

Empresa Ferroviaria Oriente S.A.

Ferroviaria Oriental S.A. operates in the East of Bolivia, connecting the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra with Argentina via Yacuiba - Pocitos; with Brazil through Puerto Suárez - Quijarro - Corumbá; and with the North, Warnes and Montero. The railway network has a 1,244 kms of wide meter gauge, of which 643 km correspond to the Eastern sector, 539 kilometers to the Southern sector and 62 kilometers to the Northern Sector of the Department. The network allows access to the Eastern Atlantic ports of: Santos and Paranagua, in Brazil, by this sector through the routes of ALL (America Latina Logistics); and the ports of Buenos Aires and Rosario, in Argentina, by the Southern sector in connection with Belgrano Cargas. Furthermore, the Paraguay – Paraná Waterway, on the basis of an intermodal transportation system allows access to the same ports of Argentina and the port of Nueva Palmira, Uruguay. Finally, in the southern sector by the passage of Salta to Socompa in connection with the route of Belgrano Cargas, you can access the port of Antofagasta in Chile.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS- GE LOCOMOTIVES-in November of 2013, Ferroviaria Oriental purchased locomotives from General Electric; these are three C23EMP locomotives of latest generation which will be delivered by the end of 2014. The Units come equipped with a turbo diesel engine with electronic injection, microprocessor, remote synchronization system and events register camera.

PURCHASE OF WAGONS- As an investment, 80 flat carts were bought from the company Ferrocarriles Españoles de Via Estrecha - FEVE, and 100 containers of 40 feet each were transformed into removable grain wineries, with a fast download design for exclusive use in transportation of soybean grain, strengthening the loading capacity in 120,000 additional tons per year for the next management.

INFRASTRUCTURE- In 2013 there were improvements to the infrastructure in different parts of the network, covering works and projects in the Northern, Southern and Eastern sectors. Executed trail works included the placement of 36.196 sleepers of wood, the addition of 159.838 elastic fasteners (clips) and the incorporation of 20.902 m3 of ballast, thus eliminating deficient trail sections and sectors and continuing with the process of replacing the sections of track over land by others with ballast, thus improving the bearing track capacity and giving greater stability and drainage capacity.

The mechanized leveling of 170 Km was done in the Eastern sector, achieving substantial improvement of geometry (leveling and alignment) of the trail. In addition, there was an intensive improvement and maintenance of 88 km of the route in three sectors. The Change of Rails Project totaled 2.5 Km of change of rails of 90 pounds per yard, which replaced 65 lb/yd of rails. The program of aluminum  thermal welding designed to provide comfort and security to the movement of trains, recorded a total of 10.6 Km.

General Information

Total Length =  1,244 km

Per branch:

North Sector:  Santa Cruz – Montero  =  62 km

South Sector:  Santa Cruz – Yacuiba (border with Argentina)  =  539 km

East Sector:  Santa Cruz – Puerto Quijarro (border with Brasil)  =  643 km

Stations:

South Sector:  Santa Cruz – Abapo – Charagua – Boyuibe – Villa Montes – Yacuiba

East  Sector:  Santa Cruz – Tres Cruces – San Jose de Chiquitos – Robore – Puerto Suarez – Puerto Quijarro

Bolivia Waterways Assessment

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Matriz Costo Transporte Fluvial 140930

For information on Bolivia waterways contact details, please see the following link:

4.4 Bolivia Port and Waterways Company Contact List

River Network System in the North West

The river network in this region is formed by rivers that connect with important populations in the area and international bonding points. The navigable rivers in the river network reach lengths close to 5,000 km, consisting of the following sections:

• Ríos Ichilo, Mamoré and Tributarios 2.023 Kms.
• Ríos Beni, Madre de Dios, Orthon and Tributarios 2.688 Kms
• TOTAL 4.711 Km

The corridor formed by the Ichilo - Mamore - Itenez rivers enables the connection of the northern region of the country with the highway system through Puerto Villarroel in Cochabamba. Among the important towns connected there are:

• Trinidad, capital of departamento of Beni
• Guayaramerín, border town located at the northern end of the department of  Beni.

Both towns are important centers of production in the region where there is a significant flow of goods and people.

The river system Beni - Madre de Dios - Orthon (West of the Mamoré River) helps to connect the city of Riberalta (Northern part of Beni Department) with the highway system in Rurrenabaque (La Paz).

System of Paraguay River

The Paraguay River represents a very important connection for the foreign trade of the eastern region of the country, mainly by the large volumes of agricultural products. This system allows the connection with the ports of the Atlantic (Buenos Aires, Rosario, Nueva Palmira). It has an approximate length of 2771 Km.

This system, which is shared by five countries — Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay, has acquired significance for Bolivia at the beginning of the 1990s, due to the demand for larger volumes of cargo to be exported.

Access to this river today is via the Tamengo channel implying restrictions on permanent navigation, as well as the situation of dependency which means traversing a section which is located in Brazilian territory.

A solution to these disadvantage would be the construction of Puerto Busch connecting it with the so-called Punta Man Cesped, which would give Bolivia access to the waters of the Paraguay River.

The waterway can be divided into 5 stages: i) from Cáceres to Corumbá/Puerto Aguirre (Puerto Aguirre is where Bolivia peeps to Paraguay River); ii) from Puerto Aguirre to the Apa River, which is the border between Brasil and Paraguay; iii) from Apa River to Asunción; iv) from Asunción to Santa Fe, and v) finally from Santa Fe to Nueva Palmira and later the Río de la Plata,

The waterway by sectors:

• Section Puerto Cáceres – Corumba 672 KM, Section CORUMBA – APA River 603 KM, Section Río APA – Asunción 537 KM
• Section Asunción – Santa Fe 1.040 KM, Section Santa Fe - Nueva Palmira Buenos Aires 590 KM, Total WATERWAT Length 3.442 KM

 The majority of goods transported by HPP are commodities, i.e. grains, cereal, wood, etc..

The main goods transported: grains 31,5 %, cereal 18,2 %, wood 17,7 %, heavy loads 12,3 %, fertilizers 9,4 %, Liquid fuel 6,7 %, gas fuels%.

Bolivian Ports

Bolivia in the stretch of the Paraguay River owns the following ports: a) Central Aguirre, located at Tamengo7 channel at 2 Kms from Puerto Quijarro, b) Puerto Tamengo or Gravetal , c) Puerto Busch, in the Man Césped corridor, which is innactive and d) Puerto Suárez, at Cáceres Lagoon, abandoned due to waterlogging.

External Ports

Bolivia has Access to the following external ports: i) Puerto de Rosario in Argentina, ii) Puerto Casado and Villeta in Paraguay, and, iii) Puerto Montevideo in Uruguay.

Puerto de Rosario, en 1969 Bolivia is granted the use of this port and also a free area of 54.667 m2 with the right to explote a Free zone in this place, where Bolivia can assign its own customs agents to dispense trade in transit (Orias, 2000). However this port has been little used and Bolivia has not worked in maintenance, equipment and operation of the springs, as stipulated in the agreement with the Argentina. Today, at this point the Bolivian goods in transit are transferred to or from the wagons of the train that connects to Santa Cruz.

Puerto Casado and Villeta, in the Peace Treaty of 1938 between Bolivia and Paraguay settles that Paraguay guarantees free transit through its territory and especially in the areas of Puerto Casado, with the right for Bolivia to install its customs agencies and build reservoirs and warehouses in the area of the port, also Paraguay has awarded the Villeta port - 37 km from Asunción - warehouse and storage area for the Bolivian load in transit.

Puerto Montevideo, Bolivia has access to the use of free zones of Nueva Palmira and Colonia and others that could be in Uruguayan territory, for traffic, storage, handling and fractionation of goods and raw materials of Bolivian origin destined for Uruguay, as well as the free use of a warehouse in the port of Montevideo (see Orias, 2000).

Zona Franca Puerto Aguirre, the first Bolivina port with sovereign sea coast through the waterway Paraguay Paraná, allows Bolivian export and import activities to be competitive from and to the world markets.  It connects by land with Santa Cruz and by paved road with the interior of Brazil (Campo Grande, San Pablo, Paranagua, etc.). The airports of Puerto Suárez (Bolivia) and Corumbá (Brasil), both are at 10 km. from the Free Zone of Puerto Aguirre; they offer air transport services for passengers and cargo with daily Jet airplane flights.

Port for Containers and General Cargo:

• Crane with a capacity for 150 tons
• 4500 m2 of warehouses.
• 1,5 linear kms  railway detour
• Parking lot for Containers.

Services:

• Export of containers 20 and 40 feet

• Import of containers 20 and 40 feet

• Reexpediciones to third countries.

• Reexpediciones to interior Free Zones

• Storage of goods

Port for Grains and Oil:

• Conic Silo with a capacity for 18500 tons.

• Horizontal Silo with a capacitay for 22000 tons.

• Integral Network with conveyor belts.

• Firefighting Network

• Unloading capacity of trucks 160 tons/hour (6 trucks).

• Unloading capacity of railroad wineries 200 tons/hour(5  wineries).

• Unloading capacity of railway tanks 150 m³/hour (4 tanks railway).

• Loading capacity of grain barges 450 tons/hour (6 barges per day).

• Loading capacity of oil barges 200 tons/hour (3 barges per day).

• 3 linear kms of rail turnouts.

• Road Access.

Services:

• Export of grain and soybean flour.

• Export of soybean and sunflower oil.

• Import of wheat.

Company Information

In the stretch, Ichilo - Mamore tributaries, there are unions of general freight transport, with special boats with flatbeds with maximum capacity of 4,000 quintals. The transport of passengers is not regulated, nor the carriage of liquids (fuels), whose fleet is comprised of private tanker vessels, with a capacity of approximately 40,000 liters.  They do not transport passengers because of the danger that that represents.

In the Beni River - Madre de Dios - Orthon stretch and tributaries, there are no private transportation companies, since it is a non-regulated stretch, heavily influenced by the weather. Practically it is navigable only between the months of November to February. In low water period, transport of goods is done by land

Travel Time Matrix

NOTE: Travel Time changes depending if the journey is downstream or upstream

Key Routes

Port Information

Bolivia Storage Assessment

For information on Bolivia storage contact details, please see the following link:

4.6 Bolivia Storage and Milling Company Contact List

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Private Storage 140930

Commercial Storage

Access Capacity to Storage Facilities, for lease contract.

Storage Used by Humanitarian Organizations

Generally, humanitarian organizations have small to medium-sized storage areas in the national territory, spaces where they handle supplies they have committed to serve their regular activities. When their inventories increase to respond to emergencies, whether for local purchases or imports, they look for storage spaces in municipalities, local governments or they temporarily rent regional spaces, when they directly manage their facilities, so they do not have extra spaces to share.

The concept of Voucher is being applied lately, so the affected family can directly pick up products from pre-determined trade institutions, and avoid costs of storage and warehouse management outside from the Service Center of the organizations.

As organizations demand can be satisfied by local market, there is no large storage spaces for strategic goods.

Public Sector Storage

The Government has created 2 institutions to ensure the stabilization of prices in the market in the country, by investing in infrastructure, storage and collection. Currently WFP has signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Government, where la Empresa de Apoyo a la Producción Agropecuaria EMAPA e Insumos Bolivia (the Bolivia Company's Support to the Public Agricultural Production and Supplies) is part of the national counterpart.

Foodstuffs stored strategically are corn in grain, flour, rice and oil, which at a critical time as in an emergency, humanitarian organizations could have access to the purchase of such products from EMAPA.

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Almacenes EMAPA 140930

Cold Chain

In the country the cold chain is not fully implemented; the companies that market pharmaceutical products and meat have cold chambers according to the capacity of their activity, with reduced infrastructure and little ability to offer surplus spaces to share or rent.

The best offers are vehicles deployed with refrigeration systems, for national and international transport systems. There is also a range of logistics operator companies which have areas with facilities for refrigerated containers.

In the public sector, only the Ministry of Health has adequate infrastructure with control of temperature for the storage of strategic medicine and to supply to Hospitals and Health Centers, where it does not share spaces due to sector policies.

GLCSC LCA BOLIVIA Cold Transporters 140930

Bolivia Milling Assessment

For information on contact details, please see the following link:

4.6 Bolivia Storage and Milling Company Contact List

The milling capacity in the country is determined by the sum of the individual capacities of each company.

The largest milling companies are registered with the Association of Industrial Millers (ADIM), which brings together companies in La Paz, Cochabamba, Potosi, Sucre and Santa Cruz.

Milling Company Sociedad Industrial Molinera S.A. SIMSA

Milling Company CIC HNOS. VICENTE S.R.L.