By Sebastián Betancourt
Terminal Pacífico Sur (TPS), which operates part of the Port of Valparaíso, has begun the new 2025 – 2025 cherry export season with the arrival of the container ship HMM Blessing at site 3 of terminal 1.
According to projections, the volumes of this newly started campaign will exceed the numbers left by the same one in 2024 – 2025. 300 thousand tons of the total 670 thousand will use the port facility of Valparaíso as an exit route to the Asian continent, an installation that prepared its operation to handle this fruit movement destined for China.
Franco Gandolfo, general manager of the Empresa Portuaria Valparaíso (EPV), commented that “it is a very relevant milestone, because, once again, Valparaíso renews its commitment to excellence, to coordinated work among all the actors of the community to serve a new cherry season to Asia.”
“The season should be a bit higher than the previous one. In particular, the cherry is projected at a total of 670 thousand tons, of which we expect to handle 300 thousand through the Port of Valparaíso. The port system of Valparaíso has prepared for this season in order to provide good service and an excellent service in terms of safety, traceability, and efficiency,” added Gandolfo.
For his part, Cristian Rodríguez, general manager of Terminal Pacífico Sur (TPS), stated that “this is a tremendous challenge for the terminal and for all the terminals that participate in this intense season of container transfer with cherries. This requires preparation for quite some time. We already started preparing from the last season, incorporating the learnings from the last campaign, and here there is an effort from the entire logistics chain that participates with authorities, carriers, logistics operators.”
“At TPS, we will be very well prepared this season with 3,400 plugs to be able to have that number of refrigerated containers inside our facilities. We have invested, this year, USD 4 million in new state-of-the-art crane equipment, which will allow us to support the entire operation,” added Rodríguez.
Meanwhile, Jorge Daza, Undersecretary of Transport, stated that “we are inaugurating this 2025 – 2026 cherry season that brings together the logistics chain in Valparaíso for the export of more than 213 thousand tons that are expected to leave our country from this very important port.”
“We, as the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications, have been contributing to improving the logistics chains through, for example, the launch of our Single Maritime Window, which has been in operation for a couple of weeks in Valparaíso and also with the recent approval of the Cabotage Law,” complemented Daza.
Braulio Cubillo, regional director of Valparaíso Customs, expressed that “we have been preparing all this period of time. Considerable progress has been made in the previous period in the processes we must have ready for this to function properly, so we hope that this season will be better than the previous one and it will also serve as preliminary work for the ones that follow. The idea is for this to be a continuous improvement and to prepare us for greater challenges and greater cargo transfer.”
“The importance of our function is to be a lubricant, to try to make this work harmoniously, because this is not only the fruit season, the cruise ships will also arrive. Therefore, for the Maritime Authority of the Valparaíso Region, it is an intense, challenging period, but we are prepared to carry it forward and in cooperation with all those involved in this chain,” stated the maritime governor of Valparaíso, Navy Captain LT Domingo Hormazábal.
