The dock activity established precise patterns in the history of the Argentine organization, since its birth as a Spanish settlement in 1536, with the arrival of Pedro de Mendoza and the foundation of the fort called "Puerto de Nuestra Senora de Santa Maria del Buen Ayre".

And so, our port of Buenos Aires was born and in its surroundings the big city, and then the big country. After the destruction of the city by the indians (the querandies), on June 11th 1580, a second Spanish expedition leaded by Juan de Garay arrived near the previous fort settled by Pedro de Mendoza. Nearby, Garay founded the "Ciudad de la Santisima Trinidad" and the port of "Santa Maria del Buen Ayre", with the following motto that foresaw the destiny of the City: "Doors must be opened to land and the land must flourish, its fruit must be useful to the nation and to other nations of the world". The port of Santa Maria de los Buenos Aires kept its original aspect up to 1607, when the first improvements to give a minimum mooring area for the unloading were proposed.

These works consisted mainly in a wooden dock and many towers with armament and were located at the "Guardia del Riachuelo". Afterwards, other improvements were made on the port premises, such as a mooring place at the "Bajo de las Catalinas".

After the Portuguese's ejection from the "Colonia del Sacramento", the opening of the port exclusively for the Spanish trade was ordered, thus promoting the growing of dock activities and making it necessary the creation of a Customs Office.

Due to Napoleon's invasion to the Iberian peninsula and to avoid the lost of the commercial transactions of the Spanish settlements, king Fernando VII allowed the trade of the colonies with other nations, thus increasing the port activities.

After the revolution of May 25th 1810, Mariano Moreno, a visionary, marked the mouth of the Riachuelo (brook) with buoys, ordered the repair of the docks, and afterwards the canalization and cleaning of the river.

On August 22nd 1821, at Bernardino Rivadavia's request, the Port Development Act (Ley de Promocion portuaria) was passed.

In 1855 the Passengers Dock was inaugurated at the "Bajo de la Merced", between the present Bartolome Mitre and Juan Domingo Peron streets. Unloading and transhipment barges moored here and the passengers landed comfortably.

As the boom of Buenos Aires port was so obvious, the Customs House was built within the area of the port and it was in charge of the handling and storage of goods. This Customs House called "Aduana Nueva" (New Customs House) was located in front of the Plaza de Mayo, beside the old fort.

A grayne was proyected from the centre of the semicircular building, and it was used as the main passengers and loading dock, equipped with narrow-trailed rails for the traffic of drays between the dock and the warehouses; this project was finished later with additional warehouses located at Victoria street (Hipolito Yrigoyen street at present) and curvaceous ramps that joined Plaza de Mayo with the Paseo de Julio.

In 1882 Eduardo Madero, an important man involved in commercial and port activities, with the support of General Roca, obtained the authorization of the Congress to the Executive to build four locked docks on the riversides. In 1886 the final drawings were approved and on January 28th 1889 "Puerto Madero" was inaugurated with the entry of the first ship in the southern dock.

In 1910, more than 32,000 ships transported 30,000 tons of grains per day. Argentina thus had a very important port but without the necessary capacity to meet the international commercial needs. So, in 1911 the works planned by Huergo (Puerto Nuevo) started and they were finished in 1926. They turned Buenos Aires into the first port of Latin America and the southern hemisphere, as a maritime magazine said in 1932.