The National Association of Ship Agents of Chile (Asonave) valued the willingness of the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications (MTT) to address the problems affecting the operation of the Single Maritime Window (Vumar), the system that has become the main tool for documentary management in the country’s ports.
From Asonave’s perspective, it is essential to accelerate corrections, considering the intensive use of Vumar in terminals with high cargo movement, as pointed out by the entity’s Executive Vice President, Claudio Morales.
At the latest special session of the Operational Committee, representing the MTT, Antonio Dourthé, Logistics Development Coordinator; Gonzalo Frigerio Ibar, Coordinator of the Maritime, River and Lake Transport Department; Jimmy Schlegel, Analyst from the same department; and Rodrigo Villegas, technical manager of the platform and liaison with its provider, attended.
The attendance of this complete team was perceived by the Association as a positive signal of openness and availability to take charge of the points raised. Thus, Morales highlighted the constructive attitude of the Ministry’s representatives and their willingness to work on technical and procedural measures to improve the platform’s performance.
The association also valued that the MTT shares the diagnosis regarding the current shortcomings and recognizes the need to make adjustments in the short term to guarantee the proper functioning of Vumar.
“The Ministry came to listen and to work, not to defend the platform. There is awareness that the problems exist and must be resolved. The willingness and openness shown by the Ministry are fundamental to moving towards a version of Vumar that truly contributes to streamlining processes and providing operational certainty to the entire maritime-port chain,” commented Claudio Morales.
Within the framework of the meeting, various shipping agencies described concrete difficulties they face on a daily basis with the system, such as “documents that do not load correctly or disappear, inability to correct simple errors in already validated fields, slow response times in critical functions, and failures in the generation of key documentation for departure. These problems impact operational continuity in the ports and increase the costs associated with waiting times, especially in night and weekend operations,” as emphasized by the association.
Another point addressed with special emphasis was the need for the involved public services -Customs, Seremi of Health, Agricultural and Livestock Service, Investigative Police, and Maritime Authority- to use Vumar uniformly, avoiding parallel processes outside the platform. “The lack of synchronization between services has in some cases generated duplication of procedures and unnecessary prolongation of formalities,” Asonave highlighted.
The parties agreed to hold a new session next December 18 to review the progress of the commitments made and monitor the status of the applied solutions. Asonave reiterated its intention to continue actively collaborating with the MTT and other authorities, so that Vumar evolves into a single, reliable, and fully operational system in all the country’s ports.
