Ports

Weather and labor turmoil squeeze Chile's cherry exports

Latin American agricultural exporters face multiple disruptions to perishables shipments. Weather damage, transport bottlenecks, and cost pressures are combining to create challenges. Chile's cherry export campaign stumbled when truckers blocked San Antonio port for nine days, protesting stalled freight rates, rising fuel costs, and new highway charges. The blockade delayed the inaugural 'Cherry Express' sailing to China, originally scheduled for November 9, forcing a diversion to Valparaiso. San Antonio handles roughly half of Chile's fruit exports and was operating at 90% storage capacity when the strike ended. The labor action compounded problems from this year's extreme El Niño weather, which devastated crops across southern South America with massive rainfall, reducing both volume and quality of available fruit for export.