By Sebastián Betancourt
Guilds of the maritime-port, timber, and fruit sectors in Chile questioned the legal initiative requiring cargo generators to install weighing systems for trucks.
The proposal considers activities involving the land transport of 60 thousand or more tons annually, such as maritime, lake, and land ports, airports, transfer centers, among other facilities.
In this regard, the Maritime and Port Chamber of Chile (Camport) stated that “the inspection of road use is a function that the law entrusts to the Road Directorate of the Ministry of Public Works and to Carabineros de Chile, and it should remain that way. When the law assigns a function to the State, it is not appropriate to delegate it to actors in the logistics chain, since doing so would distort the institutional system and transfer a function to the private sector that does not correspond to it.”
“Added to this is a significant operational problem. Access to port terminals is critical, as they concentrate a high flow of trucks that often create bottlenecks. Access should be more expeditious and should not be overloaded with new operational frictions. Overweight control must be carried out where the infraction occurs, which is the road, and not at the access to terminals, where it would only add delays and higher costs for foreign trade,” Camport noted.
Meanwhile, from the forestry sector, the president of the Logistics Department of the Chilean Wood Corporation (Corma), Gonzalo Pelén, stated that “we fully share the objective of safeguarding road infrastructure and preventing the circulation of trucks with axle overload. However, this project does not contribute to improving logistics or the efficiency of the transport chain; on the contrary, it involves transferring functions that correspond to the State to private parties, generating new costs, operational and legal responsibilities that are not currently our concern.”
“Furthermore, the initiative leaves multiple questions open regarding its implementation, inspection, and the procedures that companies must follow in the event of potential non-compliance. Before moving forward with a regulation of this magnitude, it is essential to have clear rules, well-defined mechanisms, and an adequate evaluation of its impacts on the competitiveness and functioning of the national logistics chain,” Pelén indicated.
For its part, from the fruit sector, the president of the Federation of Fruit Producers of Chile (Fedefruta), Víctor Catán, expressed that “today, the economic situation is complex, there are many companies making a tremendous effort to continue operating; I think we should leave them alone for a while and apply the law that is in force. The current law says that the MOP or whoever is responsible must carry out the controls and, if the load is exceeded in those controls, the fine must be paid or the load must be detained.”
“We know how much a bin with fruit and our load weighs; the truck drivers, who are people with a lot of experience, also know. So, we cannot keep implementing or inventing more things. Let’s do what we have well, implement the current regulations better, and let businessmen and SMEs work.”
“This means placing weighing scales everywhere, not all companies can cover the cost,” stated the head of Fedefruta.
“Whoever has doubts normally goes to a scale anywhere, checks and stows their load. Many times the problem is not that they are overweight, but rather a stowage issue, that one axle has more weight than another, and so on. There is a current regulation that works, which could work even better if the inspection protocol were carried out better. We are full of regulations, they invent regulations that become unenforceable and then we have to come up with legislative extensions,” Catán emphasized.
Likewise, also from the fruit sector, Frutas de Chile stated that “Chilean fruit competes at the highest level in international markets and, to maintain that position, requires an efficient and agile logistics chain. In fresh fruit, time is a critical factor, as any delay can affect the condition upon arrival at destination markets and the competitiveness of our exports.”
“We understand the importance of protecting road infrastructure and having adequate inspection and control mechanisms. However, we are concerned that the bill modifying the self-control rules regarding truck weighing, currently under discussion in the Senate Public Works Commission, could generate longer waiting times, more extensive routes, and higher operational costs for the export chain,” they indicated from the organization.
“The above takes on special relevance in an increasingly challenging international context, marked by geopolitical tensions and higher logistics costs, where there is no margin to absorb new operational burdens. We believe this discussion should be approached from a comprehensive perspective, reconciling the protection of road infrastructure with modern and efficient logistics,” they emphasized at Frutas de Chile.
“From Frutas de Chile, we reiterate our willingness to collaborate in the search for solutions that allow strengthening control mechanisms, while safeguarding the competitiveness of Chilean exports and, with that, the commercial commitments of the entire country,” they expressed at the organization.
