San Antonio Terminal Internacional (STI), linked to Hanseatic Global Terminals and SSA Marine, together with Frutas de Chile officially began a new season of cherry exports by sea. The concessionaire of the San Antonio port will be the terminal with the largest number of Cherry Express services during this period, operating four direct routes to Asia, which will be materialized through the handling of 32 vessels.
“Our direct service offering demonstrates that we are the main departure point for Chilean cherries destined for Asia. 60% of the Cherry Express services, fundamental for reducing navigation times between Chile and China, operate at STI. This requires us to continue enhancing the competitiveness of the industry and to continue reinforcing our commitment to delivering a continuous, efficient, and secure operation for exporters,” stated the general manager of STI, Andrés Albertini.
According to estimates from the Cherry Committee of Frutas de Chile, the export projection for the 2025-2026 season would reach 131 million boxes, equivalent to 655 thousand tons. “Each cherry season is a large-scale logistical challenge. The coordination of the different actors in the chain is key to maintaining the sector’s competitiveness and to continue positioning Chile as a leader in fruit exports,” stated the executive director of the Cherry Committee of Frutas de Chile, Claudia Soler.
For her part, the Minister of Agriculture, Ignacia Fernández, stated that “we have made important public and private coordination efforts to face this season in the best way possible. Last year was already a very positive season, a record in export volume. We faced some difficulties linked to price and all measures have been taken to prevent that from being the case this year, to ensure our prestige, the quality of this fundamental ambassador of Chilean agriculture and the country, such as cherries are in China.”
The terminal, during this season, will offer more than 3,000 connection points for refrigerated containers, with the aim of ensuring that the fruit arrives in optimal condition at its destination. Furthermore, it has a digitized operating system, reinforced security protocols, and flow automation. In parallel, artificial intelligence and telemetry initiatives are under development aimed at improving operating times and anticipating logistical contingencies.
It is worth mentioning that on November 11th the first ship arrived at STI with the objective of mobilizing cherries bound for the Chinese market. This operation was handled by the MSC Lome V, which loaded 500 containers with the Chilean agricultural product and -in this way- initiated the Alpacay service, alongside the direct route to Asia known as Cherry Express.
Finally, the San Antonio Port Company (EPSA), through the activity of its concession terminals, anticipates a 48% increase in the number of shipments of this fruit bound for China for the 2025-2026 period.
