Aboard the Lady Rosebey “Blueberry Express” service operated by Kool Carriers, 1,200 platters (between chamfers and containers) of fresh blueberries left Puerto Coronel for the port of Gloucester in the United States this Wednesday, December 7.
The “Blueberry Express” service will have weekly calls at Puerto Coronel until the peak of its season, allowing it to carry fresh blueberries to the US market, the main destination for this Chilean super fruit.
This first “Blueberry Express” is a milestone for Chile’s fresh blueberry exports, and was made possible thanks to joint work between blueberry exporters, Puerto Coronel and Cool Carriers.
,This first ship is an example of the efforts that have been made to diversify the ports from which our fruits leave. A strategy that is part of a joint work carried out with all the actors in the chain and from which emerged a package of 12 measures offered to the government”, explained Ivan Marambio, President of ASOEX.
In the 2021-2022 season, Chile exported 107,179 tons of fresh blueberries to the world. 50% of this amount was earmarked for the US market. “Having this ‘Blueberry Express’ service from Cool Carriers is, without a doubt, a great achievement for the Chilean blueberry industry and a way to seek solutions to the logistical problems that arose last season, decompressing the ports, but At the same time using a port close to producing areas such as Maule, Ñuble and Biobío. Likewise, these ships coincide with the beginning of the peak week of exports, which serve as a new exit gate for large quantities of our fruit. Using Puerto Coronel as a port will allow for faster shipments”, closed Felipe Silva, president of the Blueberry Committee of Chile. ASOEX.
Through Puerto Coronel, during the 2021-2022 season, 59,172 tonnes of fresh fruit went out, of which apples accounted for 68% of the total, blueberries (11%), cherries (7%), table grapes (5%) and kiwi (3%) Were. % ), making this port the third national terminal in fruit shipments after Valparaíso and San Antonio.
For “Blueberry Express” service, it is managed in a general cargo format. To operate it, Puerto Coronel has a specialized dock and experience in shipping this type of cargo, as it is one of the three types of shipping services that regularly operate in this port (general cargo, container and bulk). Operates from
Rodrigo Schilling, commercial manager of Puerto Coronel, said that this milestone “responds to the work and effort we have put in over many years to be able to attract this type of cargo. It is a great honor for the operating team, the inspection teams and our terminal.” The result of a job well done amongst choice exporters.”
For his part, Michel Prater, general manager of Puerto Coronel, recalled that “in recent years, the BioBio sector has become a viable option and offers optimal efficiency conditions for the transfer of fruit, following all protocols from export to In addition, climate change is displacing many crops in the south of the country, creating new needs for terminals in the region.” Along these lines, he added “We are a multipurpose terminal, with a specialized dock for this cargo format and a highly trained team to ship fruit from Chile to the world.”
The “Blueberry Express” service is operated by Cool Carriers, which has arranged for specific non-stop vessels that will allow the fruit to reach the United States within 12 days from the final port of shipment.
“I thank the blueberry industry for trusting us, and I want to assure you that we will do our best to keep operations running smoothly. Also highlight the efforts of Puerto Coronel, whose employees we work with to provide this service. We have been working for several months to successfully provide this service”, said Ricardo Barkhan, General Manager of Cool Carriers.
Regarding the service, Catalina Schor, Commercial Director, Cool Carriers, said: “As Cool Carriers, we have characterized ourselves by generating services that meet the needs of our customers, and as such have become a leading provider of shipping palletized blueberries. Tremendous project was born, under deck, a cabin onboard (…) We are starting with this first ‘Blueberry Express’, in addition, we are opening a new shipping front for palletized cargo, with We are also opening up a new way of blueberry shipping for exporters. We are confident that great results will come from this joint work.”
better season, closer and joint work
Last season, logistical problems in Chilean ports added to congestion in some Chilean fruit destinations, meaning fruit took longer to reach supermarket shelves or the consumer, affecting fruit condition. That’s why, for fruit exporters, this first Blueberry Express helps ease congestion and speed up shipments of fruit from Chile to the world.
“For us as blueberry exporters from the Ñuble region, it is important to have this service. Being able to ship our fruit from Puerto Coronel significantly reduces the transfer time of our blueberries which, previously, would have taken us to Valparaíso or San Antonio. Our business is fresh fruit, so these warehouses help us to better maintain the quality and condition of the fruit. But, apart from reducing the time it takes us to ship the fruit, this service helps us to get the blueberries to their destination It also shortens the time it takes to get to the U.S. Our blueberries take 12 days to get from Coronel to the United States, which is fantastic,” said Jorge Valdes, general manager of New Day Fruits – NDF.
He also said that his experience with export in chamber vessels was due to his work with table grapes, noting that “the cold is better in chamber vessels, but you have to be careful of dehydration of the fruit, which we used to work with.” Are and care.” of.” so that the entire export process is well developed”.
Coinciding with the above, Alphaberry General Manager Sebastian Dominguez explained: “It is very important to have this fast ship service from Puerto Coronel to the United States. For exporters in the Ñuble region, it is important that we can get our fruit to nearby Be able to move out quickly through ports and compete in the United States. It is beneficial to organize and use Puerto Coronel to schedule our harvests and orders from our customers primarily in the United States.”
Finally, Agroval General Manager Cristian Alvarez assures that “Puerto Coronel and the ports of the region are an advantage to export our products more directly. This helps us to reduce costs and spend less time in port with our loads Is.”
