Bown expresses concern about Valparaiso

Santiago, April 25, 2015.- The Fruit Exporters Association of Chile AG (Asoex), through its President, Ronald Bown Fernandez has expressed its deep concern at the arrest that Customs conducted, indefinitely, since Wednesday 20 May.
"Whenever there is a standstill in some sectors linked to the export process in the country, our industry is directly affected, paying the consequences of these demonstrations, which is totally unfair. Once again the fruit sector is being affected by not being able to continue with the normal process of loading containers, especially through the port of Valparaiso, which is why we urge government authorities and Customs officials to seek solutions to the conflict urgently, to avoid further damage to the exporting country's economy, "said President of Asoex.
"To prime the dialogue so that the problem is solved it is necessary, and does not harm economic sectors that work with perishables, and therefore, can not wait. Here it is not only in play, once again, the quality and condition of our fruit, but also our image as a reliable and dependable supplier country, "added the leader.
Bown also recalled that customs unemployment adds to the strikes occurred, early this season exports (2014-2015), in the ports of San Antonio and Los Angeles, USA, which caused serious economic damage and image to the field of export fruit. In addition to all this the difficulties faced by producers and exporters in the north, due to a long drought and March rains are added.
"Right now we have exported citrus, especially clementines, oranges, lemons and apples, table grapes, kiwis, avocados and pears. Last season (2013-2014) in the same period exports were registered for a total of 16 million boxes of fresh to different target markets, a figure that certainly can not match or beat without the normalization of fruit exports, "he said.
The situation becomes critical in Ports
"We have been monitoring the situation and we know that they have started to accumulate land, port and air cargo, is in the port of Valparaiso receive operations and freight forwarding are virtually paralyzed, and the situation is made each time more critical, "said the leader.
Bown said that until Friday night just past, the Zeal of Valparaiso over 900 trucks with problems of access to port facilities or times exceeding 30 hours waiting were reported. TPS had more than 1,700 containers without the possibility of release, and there are 3 ships TCVAL without possibility of transfer of horticultural export cargo.
It is worth remembering that the ports of San Antonio and Valparaiso are the most important in terms of volume of shipments of Chilean fresh fruit to international markets. According to figures from Asoex, past the Port of Valparaiso season they came 1,197,464 tons and San Antonio 719 213 ton., A total of 2,350,543 tonnes of fresh fruit exported from Chile to the world.
Bown, said that until Friday night at the Port of Valparaiso ZEAL 500 trucks had no possibility of entering the port. While the most critical situation lived 473 truckloads of container export, of which 73% have a period greater than 32 hours waiting, noting that 59% of these trucks have refrigerated cargo, therefore, they have a limited time to maintain autonomy to maintain the required temperature.
In the case of TPS, the terminal 1, through Friday, a total of 6,125 TEUs of cargo import and export collected remained inside, being judgmental, that to attend to other ships, the office promptly 1,720 corresponding to deferred direct of Ships SANTA ROSA, SEABOARD PACIFIC MSC and NYK LODESTAR and Leanne containers.