Day 5 March 27
March 27, 2008 – 8:37 pmToday began with a two hour drive over the mountains to the port city of Valparaiso. There, we heard a presentation by Mr. Boris Leyton, Reefer (or refrigerated) Operations Manager for CSAV, one of the largest shipping companies in the world. CSAV also owns and operated the vessel we visited in Philadelphia. Reefer vessels do not carry containers.
CSAV’s world headquarters in here in Valparaiso. Like many buildings in Chile, the building has been damaged by earthquakes over time. To maintain the vista, builders will refurbish the facade of the building and create a more modern, safer structure inside the facade.
CSAV’s strategy is to increase the number of vessels it owns over the next five years and continue to improve productivity through information technology. This last step is extremely important to offset the increasing costs of oil.
As there are so many steps in getting Chilean fruit to customers in Philadelphia, the margins for each operation are thin and it takes (if all goes well) approximately 30 days from harvest for the growers to get paid for their product.
Chile is unique as fruit grower, in that there are no diseases native to the country that attack the fruit. In fact, in many countries, growers will plant rose bushes in their orchards, as they are more sensitive to diseases than fruit trees. The bushes act as ‘canaries in a coal mine’, warning the growers that something is attacking the bush and will soon affect the fruit. In Chile, the growers do plant rose bushes in their orchards, but do so only for decorative purposes.
This also means that Chilean growers do not use pesticides on their fruit. Fruit exported to the US is treated only after it is unloaded off the vessel.
SVAC’s world headquarters.
