The Port of Valparaíso gets ready for high fruit volumes

Carlos Vera, the Logistics Manager of the Valparaiso Port Company, EPV, said they were working hard to get ready for this export season, as the country is expected to produce high volumes of fruit this season, and practically 55% of the Chilean fruit exported to the world is shipped through this port.

«We have a detailed plan with exporters, shipping agents, and the terminals that are in concession; everything is highly planned,» Vera stated.

Vera also said that the fruit to be exported had «two ways of entry: the first is by loose cargo at the pallet level -which enters in thermo trucks- and the other is in refrigerated containers; a system that has increased a lot. In both cases the traffic and the logistics lines that are operating very efficiently, as almost 55% of the country’s fruit is exported through Valparaíso.»

Table grapes lead shipments

According to Vera, the table grape is the most exported fruit through the Port of Valparaiso. «Almost 80% of it is produced in the Aconcagua area, so it is shipped out through our terminal. It is followed by nectarines, cherries, apples, pears and kiwis, as the large producers are in the V Region and down,» he said.

A few days ago, the «Green Italia», a refrigerated vessel operated by Trans Global Shipping NV with 290,000 boxes of Chilean fresh cherries, blueberries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, and table grapes, arrived in the USA.

The North American maritime terminal stated they expected 25 shipments of fruit from the ports of Valparaiso, Coquimbo, and Caldera this season. In addition, in 2016 Chile became China’s biggest supplier of fresh fruit with about 24% of the total fresh fruit imported, according to China’s Customs Information Center.

During the 2016-217 period, Valparaiso led the fruit export sector, with 1,675,430 tons, i.e. 38% more than in the previous season, according to the INE. According to the agency, table grapes accounted for 29.7% of all shipments of fruits from Valparaiso, followed by red apples (15.1%), avocados (7.8%), kiwis (6.1%), cherries (4.6%), limes (4.3%), mandarines (4.3%), plums (4.1%), oranges (4%), pears (3.8%), blueberries (3.1%), nectarines (2.7%), nuts (2.4%), clementines (2.3%), green apples (1.9%), dehydrated plums (0.9%) and peaches (0.9%).

Source: SimFruit and Mundo Maritimo