Blanca Bay, a city of over 250,000, has new bulk-handling facilities and grain terminals and provides the main shipping outlet for the southern pampas grain belt. The port facility suffers less from silting than the muddy Plate River Estuary at Buenos Aires. The city of Blanca Bay is now a major commercial, industrial, and financial center in the southern pampas region of Argentina. The oil industry, with new petrochemical and derivative industries has also escalated the growth of the city. To the southeast, the small port city of Point Alta is also benefiting from the industrial growth in the region. Point Alta is home to the Argentine Navy and the Puerto Rosales Naval Air Base. A large naval base is also located east of the city of Blanca Bay. The coastal area south of the city of Blanco Bay is a shallow, sandy, and muddy area. Though no major stream or river presently passes through the port city, there may have been such a river tens of thousands of years ago. Dredging keeps the shipping lanes open between the two port cities and the Atlantic Ocean.
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