Chile’s transport infra under pressure as operators lament lack of investment

Chile’s logistics sector has a positive outlook for the country’s foreign trade in 2022, but local port operator and maritime services association Camport warns that infrastructure shortfalls will continue to strain supply chains this year.

The 2021 version of the foreign trade logistics barometer, a survey carried out by the transport ministry (MTT) among 700 firms in the sector, found that both operators and users have a positive outlook for 2022, though in the case of the latter the perception index was lower than a year ago. 

Meanwhile, operators’ expectations for the year ahead remain very similar to those reported in early 2021.

One indicator that deteriorated slightly last year was deliveries, with fewer importers and exporters reporting that they got their deliveries on time and/or made correctly than in 2020, although the figure was still over 80%. 

Last year, world trade struggled with supply chain issues, as ports dealt with pandemic-related restrictions and stock shortages.

Camport head Daniel Fernández said that Chile’s port infrastructure will also play a role in continuing this issue throughout 2022. 

In particular, he lamented the poor state of the country’s freight rail network and the slow pace of highway concession tenders, saying that this also prevents ports from increasing their capacity. He added that the US$3.5bn large port planned for San Antonio (pictured) would be impossible to execute without a massive boost to freight cargo transport.

“By the end of this government we feel that we ended up left behind. There wasn’t any progress in solving these issues,” Fernández was cited as saying by local paper Diario Financiero. 

As for the next administration, which takes office on March 11, the Camport leader said that the association is discussing issues such as freight rail lines, port expansions and road accessibility with the incoming authorities.