These figures show the importance of this establishment to Argentine trade. It is not a mere depôt, as one might suppose, but a veritable Exchange, where important transactions take place in all the chief products of the country.
The port of Buenos Ayres owes its rapid development to this excellent equipment. In 1880, before the scheme of works was commenced, its trade amounted scarcely to 660,000 tons; since then it has maintained a constant increase, and now reaches the figure of more than 13,000,000 tons.
Below is the inward and outward trade of the port of Buenos Ayres:—
| Years. | Tonnage. |
| 1897 | 7,365,000 |
| 1898 | 8,115,000 |
| 1899 | 8,742,000 |
| 1900 | 8,047,000 |
| 1901 | 8,661,000 |
| 1902 | 8,903,000 |
| 1903 | 10,269,000 |
| 1904 | 10,400,000 |
| 1905 | 11,589,000 |
| 1906 | 12,582,000 |
| 1907 | 13,295,000 |
| 1908 | 15,111,000 |
To appreciate the value of these figures, we must compare
them with those relating to the principal ports of the world, where we shall see that Buenos Ayres occupies, in matters of tonnage, the twelfth place among the ports of the world. The tonnage of Hamburg and Liverpool, which occupy the first two places, is only about 40 per cent, greater than that of Buenos Ayres.
The importance of the port of Buenos Ayres is chiefly due to the fact that it handles nearly all the imports of the Republic—84 per cent, in 1908—while of exports it handles 51 per cent. This confirms what we have already said of the absorption, by Buenos Ayres, of a great portion of the vital forces of the country, which develops it disproportionately to the rest of the country. The equipment of the new ports of Rosario, San Nicolas, and Santa Fé, and the enlargement of the port of Bahia Blanca, will constitute a useful task of decentralisation, favourable to the economic future of the country.
La Plata has the advantage over Buenos Ayres of a deeper basin, which renders its harbour accessible at all times to ships of the highest tonnage. Until 1903 it was the point of call for the large transatlantic liners outward or inward bound, which observed fixed hours of arrival and departure.
The harbour of La Plata, 3 miles from the town, contains about 2700 yards of quays and immense warehouses, capable of storing 600,000 sacks of grain. It is the terminus of the lines of railway serving the richest districts of the Province of Buenos Ayres, and is destined to undergo further developments, as the provincial Government intends to connect it with the agricultural centres by a network of light railways. This is the principal port to-day for the exportation of the agricultural products of the central Pampa.
On account of the economic importance of this port, the State has taken it over from the provincial Government, in consideration of a price of £2,360,000, with a view to nationalising it and exploiting it for the benefit of the Argentine State. This measure will allow of the organisation and the improvements which may be necessitated by the increase of its traffic. On the other hand, there is constant talk of connecting the port with that of Buenos