On January 13, the Maersk Saltoro vessel suffered a primary engine failure, preventing it from completing its itinerary. After 52 days of sailing from the Port of San Antonio in Chile, the vessel arrived at the Port of Nansha in China with 1,353 containers of Chilean cherries. On March 11, the destruction of the first container of fruit began.

Freshfruitportal.com spoke with Iván Marambio, president of Frutas de Chile, who said that as of April 30, China Customs had completed inspections and other procedures related to the destruction of the fruit on board the Maersk Saltoro.

“From that date and even a little earlier, the inspection certificates were already being issued, which are the documents that enable the insurance claims to be made,” he said.

He noted that companies with insurance plans are already receiving payments. “We have already heard of some insurers that have paid the affected exporters,” he said.

Regarding the shipping company, Marambio said that they were informed the payment process began on April 28. He added that 58% of the cargo was under extended guarantee.

In the judicial area, he stated that the limit of liability requested by the shipping company before the courts of Valparaíso is currently suspended.

"Some exporters challenged the competence of the court. This means that they point out that it is not the corresponding court that can resolve the issue of this limit, so the procedure is suspended and is to be resolved," said Marambio.

Challenges

Regarding the main challenge faced with the ship, Marambio said the primary task of Frutas de Chile was coordinating the flow of reliable information, as there was considerable speculation in the market.

He said they worked to organize the information effectively, “so that it would reach all the stakeholders and institutions involved. That was our main objective.”

Marambio explained that the Frutas de Chile team was on the ground monitoring the situation in China, with visits from the entity’s general manager, Miguel Canala-Echeverría, Cherry Committee president Claudia Soler, Marambio himself, and other actors in the Chilean cherry industry.

Canala-Echeverría and his team spent almost a month in China. The China team remained on-site throughout the ordeal. “Claudia Soler and I were in China, trying to coordinate and facilitate the flow of information as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Marambio said.

Lessons learned

The situation with the Maersk Saltoro, despite being unprecedented, is a logistical and operational issue, Marambio said, emphasizing that it was unrelated to key aspects of the cherry industry such as fruit quality or promotion.

In his view, Chilean cherry logistics are generally functioning well. “The failure of a ship of this nature is quite unusual; therefore, it does not appear to be a recurring issue.”

He pointed out that there are other more critical logistical issues to address, "such as the time it takes to reach our markets, which is a fundamental issue and one in which we as an industry are behind the times. Our fruit is taking a long time to reach the markets, and there we have a job to do with the shipping companies to see how we can speed up and how they comply with the transit time they offer."

Regarding lessons learned, Marambio said the industry demonstrated strong unity in response to the incident.

“As Frutas de Chile and as the Cherry Committee, we maintained open and consistent communication with exporters and the shipping company. We kept a broad and active working group throughout the process, which was a positive outcome,” he said.

Marambio emphasized that the lesson of unity and quick response should continue to be applied in future crises.

Outlook of the Chilean cherry industry

The challenges do not stop; therefore, Marambio was clear in saying, “The industry is aware that we must improve some aspects; we must continue delivering a product of the highest quality to the consumer, to improve the consumption experience with all that this involves. Logistics is essential for the consumption experience, because if the transit time is shorter, the fruit arrives better.”

He added that Frutas de Chile and the Cherry Committee are working on several aspects: “We have to worry about many things that have to do with logistics, quality, phytosanitary aspects, which are very important for us, market promotion, and market diversification.”

He added that specifically in promotion, they are focused on managing the promotion of Chilean cherries throughout the year, "not only in the months when our cherries are in the markets."

In addition, he added that "it is important to show what we do as a cherry-producing country, how we work the fields, how we work the cherries, how we pack them, how we ship them, how careful we are with the environment, how sustainable we are. We have to show these kinds of things to the consumer so that they know what it means to consume a Chilean product."