Buenos Aires, Argentina
Port · ARBUE · -34.62°, -58.35° · Mineral Products, Prepared Foodstuffs & Beverages, Chemical & Allied Industries
- in force · 60 nm
- 0
- issued · 30 d
- 0
- archive messages
- 1
- vessel calls / yr
- 1,376
About the port
The World Port Index lists Buenos Aires as a large coastal breakwater harbour with excellent shelter.
Listed depths: 6 m in the channel, 6 m at the anchorage, 8 m at the cargo pier and 9 m at the oil terminal, with a mean rise of tide of 1 m.
Entry can be restricted by tide and other conditions.
Pilotage is compulsory.
Repair facilities are rated major, with a large drydock.
Buenos Aires is a first port of entry.
PortWatch estimates 1,520 port calls at Buenos Aires from Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, about 127 a month, close to the twelve months before.
By vessel type, container ships 46%, tankers 36% and general cargo ships 11% of those calls.
Estimated cargo over the same months: 8.4 million t imported and 8.7 million t exported.
The busiest month was Jan 2026 (148 calls) and the quietest Apr 2026 (110).
What is reported near this port
1 warning in this archive has its reported position within 60 nm of Buenos Aires, the earliest issued in 2007; the most common types are nav aids (1).
Distance is measured to each warning's reported point or area centre, so a warning near Buenos Aires is not necessarily about the port; collection is incomplete between 2024-05 and 2026-08-17.
Port calls per month · IMF PortWatch estimates
Oct 2024 – Sep 2026 (last bar: month in progress) · last complete month Aug 2026: 113 calls, 620 thousand t in, 667 thousand t out
In force within 60 nm · 0
Nothing in force within 60 nm right now.
Port characteristics · World Port Index
- harbour
- large coastal breakwater
- shelter
- excellent
- water body
- Rio de la Plata; South Atlantic Ocean
- NAVAREA
- NAVAREA VI
- depths
- channel 6 m · anchorage 6 m · cargo pier 8 m · oil terminal 9 m
- mean rise of tide
- 1 m
- entrance restricted by
- other, tide; not ice, swell
- overhead limits
- yes
- turning area
- yes
- good holding ground
- no
- pilotage
- advisable, compulsory
- tugs
- assistance, salvage
- traffic and reporting
- ETA message required
- berthing
- anchorage, Mediterranean mooring, wharves
- cranes
- fixed, floating, mobile
- services
- dirty ballast reception, electrical repair, garbage disposal, longshore labour, medical, navigation equipment repair
- supplies
- deck stores, diesel, engine stores, fuel oil, provisions, water
- repairs
- major
- drydock
- large
- marine railway
- large
- first port of entry
- yes
- sailing directions
- Sailing Directions Pub. 124 (Enroute) - East Coast of South America
- chart
- 24053
World Port Index entry Buenos Aires (No. 13760), matched by UN/LOCODE. NGA Publication 150 (U.S. government work). The index describes the port as last surveyed for the publication; it is not a substitute for Sailing Directions or port authority information.
Share of Argentina's maritime trade through this port (PortWatch): imports 33%, exports 6.6%.
Chokepoint and port data: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org) — IMF and the University of Oxford, via the UN Global Platform. Not for navigation — follow official NAVAREA / coastal broadcasts and port authority notices.