Labour disputes continue at the port of Los Angeles with the decision by the parties involved not to operate on weekends and holidays. Additionally, the personnel currently unloading the containers do not have the required qualifications, and this naturally slows things down.
The waiting period for the unloading process has significantly increased, from 2 days on average to 6 to 7 days. Due to the impact of the lock down, the wait is expected to increase to 12 days, to which we must add the longer unloading process.
This situation affects the normal development of Chilean fruit exports, with shipments having to be redirected to other ports, both on the east and west coasts. The fruit bound for California and other western states has to be shipped by land, resulting in additional costs and a greater chance of the fruit's quality deteriorating.
There are currently three reefer ships at the port, containing a total of about 1.8 million boxes of fruit with a total market value of $ 45 million. Also, the cost associated with maintaining a ship at port is of between 16,000 and 20,000 dollars a day.
This situation, if not resolved soon, could worsen dramatically, as another five loaded vessels are expected to arrive in mid-March, containing a total of 2.5 million boxes of fruit.
Asoex hopes the situation will normalise soon, to which end it is asking the Chilean diplomatic authorities in that country to effectively act to solve the issue.
