Chilean ports find a silver lining

摘要

Container movement through Chile's ports grew by 11.8% last year, to 3.1M teu - a record - but most port operators concede that the global crisis will take its toll this year. "All Chilean ports will see some reductions in their cargo volume, as we have already observed a dramatic reduction of imports," Fairplay was told by San Antonio (STI) general manager Alberto Borquez, who is nonetheless optimistic about 2010. And it's not all negative this year. San Vicente (SVTI) operations chief John Bressi told Fair-play that the crisis is having an inverse effect "probably well into 2Q09, as container exports of wood pulp to the Far East are booming, because of low commodity prices and importers taking advantage of low freight rates".