Danaco Solutions - Innovative Produce Procurement | Chile assesses damage from massive quake

News Article

Chile assesses damage from massive quake
Posted on: 3/1/2010
U.S. ports should receive normal shipments of Chilean fruit until the second week of March, but after that, the effects the earthquake could severely cut access to the off-season fruit. The Chilean fresh fruit industry is beginning to measure the losses from the massive earthquake that hit the central and southern regions of the country’s fruit belt, according to a March 1 news release from ASOEX, the Santiago-based Chilean Exporters Association. Peter Kopke, president of William H. Kopke Jr. Inc., Lake Success, N.Y., said March 1 that his contacts in Chile say it is too early to determine the damage caused by the earthquake. Fruit on the water will arrive in the U.S. for the next 10 days or so. After that, the picture is not clear, he said. “If I was guessing, I would guess it would take them at least 10 days to resume some normal operations,” he said. Cold storages have broken down, vineyards have suffered damaged and other infrastructure has been damaged. What’s more, it is not known what effect the disaster will have on the availability of workers. Restoring supply chain logistics will be a challenge, he said. “There is going to be fruit, but it is a question of how much,” he said. Kopke said that supply and demand will likely push the price of Chilean fruit higher. In anticipation of delays in the Chilean grape deal, exporters and importers plan to push for an extension of the U.S. Department of Agriculture deadline for bringing product into the U.S., said Omar Abu-Ghazaleh, import manager for Pacific Trellis Fruit LLC, Reedley, Calif. The current deadline is April 10, after which Chilean product must meet mandatory quality guidelines to be allowed in. While he stressed it was too early to gauge the full extent of the damage, Abu-Ghazaleh said on March 1 that damage to grape vines, warehouses and piers at the Port of Valparaiso appeared to be minor. The association release seemed to be somewhat optimistic. According to the release, large parts of the industry emerged with minimal damage and the short-term prospects for trade were good. The epicenter of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake, one of the biggest in recorded history, was 70 miles off the coast of the southern city of Concepcion and about 270 miles from Santiago, the association release said. Reports of damage to roads, packing sheds, cold storage facilities and other infrastructure were being evaluated, the news release said. Reports on the status of the Port of Valparaiso varied. The association said the port is “working to almost full capacity.” One vessel left the port Feb. 28 and other vessel was being loaded March 1. The port of San Antonio is under evaluation and the port of Coquimbo is working normally. The berths that represent 90% of the port’s capacity, berths 1-3, were not damaged, according to a report from Delano, Calif.-based Pandol Bros.Inc.'s Santiago office, said John Pandol, director of special projects. The report also said the road from Santiago to Valparaiso was not damaged. Major road damage and collapsed bridges and overpasses were reported in other parts of the country, according to the Pandol report. Another source said damage to infrastructure, including to the Port of Valparaiso, is severe. “The port of Valparaiso, every time they look at it, it looks worse,” said Steve Davis, general manager of Sermaco Inc., Philadelphia. “It doesn’t look good.” Sermaco is a data research company that analyzes fresh produce exports from Chile. Even if the port remains operational, the roads are an issue, he said. The southern part of Chile, where apples are grown, appears particularly hard hit. “One of my inspectors lives in the southern part of Chile, closer to the epicenter,” he said. “He said the roads are gone,” Davis said. “I asked, ‘What do you mean, they’re gone — they’re cracked?’ “‘No, they fell in the earth,’” he said. While electricity was lost in much of the country, grapes in cold storage likely weren’t damaged, Pandol said. The earthquake has or would likely delay picking for two to four days, Pandol said. That could affect volumes of U.S. arrivals in the second half of March, he said. Pandol and Abu-Ghazaleh said the apple and kiwifruit industries in southern Chile would likely be more affected by the earthquake than the grape industry.

Article Source: The Packer