Southern Pacific freshness
Seafrigo is expanding its multimodal services by adding two new facilities in Santiago de Chile, and simultaneously positioning itself as a strong logistics partner for the country’s booming export industry.
Seafrigo, a leading international specialist in temperature-controlled food logistics headquartered in Le Havre (France), has expanded its presence in South America with two new offices in Chile. An operational centre has also been opened at Santiago international airport (SCL), complemented by a commercial office in the northeast of the city, in the district of Las Condes.
The expansion marks another step in Seafrigo’s ongoing global growth strategy and strengthens the company’s position as a provider of integrated cold chain solutions in Latin America.
Chile is one of the world’s most important export nations for high-quality fresh produce – the agricultural sector is the second most important economic sector, just behind mining. The list of products relevant to airfreight is wide-ranging and includes cranberries, white grapes, Agen plums, peaches, Fuji apples, golden kiwis, kumquats, figs and cherimoyas at the top of the list of exports, together with fish and seafood.
Serving Asia, the USA, Europe and Australia
Seafrigo already handles a large number of sensitive airfreight shipments – including cherries to Asia, salmon and cherimoyas to the USA, swordfish and flowers to Europe or seeds to Australia. The demands of packaging, storage and transport temperatures are high, which is why Seafrigo relies on its own quality standards and seamless temperature monitoring.
Although exports still dominate the business at present, the company is also recording growing import volumes. High-quality foods such as cheese, wine and chocolate, especially from France and the USA, are in particularly high demand.
Two springboards in the capital
Denis Hidalgo, a logistics expert with 20 years of industry experience, has taken over as the manager of the national branch. Under his leadership, Seafrigo offers a comprehensive service package in Chile, which includes documentation and customs support, as well as packaging services directly at the airport and overland transport in the interior.
“We’re very excited about our expansion into Chile – a market with enormous potential in the perishable goods sector,” says Hidalgo. “Thanks to our expertise along the entire cold chain we can offer tailor-made, multimodal solutions that meet this industry’s high demands.”
Seafrigo a key player in a Chilean export sector
Chile is the world’s leading exporter of cherries. Seafrigo was ranked second in the product-specific Iata ranking during the recent harvest season, further underlining the Le Havre-based company’s continued strong position in this noteworthy sector.
At the same time, the logistics services provider is simultaneously pursuing further plans to expand into Peru, which also has fast-growing export volumes in the fresh foods sector.