Chile’s fruit exporters are reporting losses due to problems at ports both domestically and abroad, and port operators and shipping companies could be held legally accountable and face demands for compensation.
“This is the worst season I have experienced. The situation is catastrophic,” Rodrigo Manasevich, executive director at fruit export firm Utilitas said during a legal resources webinar held by Chilean fruit producer association Fedefruta.
He said that the sector had prepared thoroughly for the 2021-2022 exporting season, but many shipments have been delayed due to port congestion and some exporters have been forced to change ports entirely just to get their cargo shipped.
Even after ensuring their products were shipped, many exporters found that the destination ports abroad were also suffering congestion-related delays.
As a result, large amounts of produce could not be sold, particularly fresh fruit. Amidst these problems, port operators even continued to charge demurrage fees, meaning that exporters were penalized for not being able to load or unload ships within agreed times.
“Unfortunately, the path forward will be to engage in legal action that allows us to equate positions in order for producers to have fair negotiations,” Manasevich said, adding that at least one port operator has pleaded for the association not to go to the courts.
When BNamericas asked webinar panelists whether port operators could be held legally responsible, Sebastián Norris, a partner at law firm Araya & CIA, said that this would depend on whether the port is in Chile or abroad.
“Within Chile there would effectively be responsibility on the part of the port operator and which could be based on the shipping contract or, and this is something that has happened in the past, possibly on the lack of services, where the terminal isn’t giving me the service that it is supposed to, and there could be responsibility of the state,” he said, since most port operators in Chile are state-owned.
When asked about the possibility of compensation for exporters, Norris told BNamericas that port operators and shipping companies could be sued for related damages.
