With the aim of mitigating the ravages generated by the global logistics crisis due to the low availability of containers and the increase in freight prices, Peru’s Association of Exporters (ADEX), the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur), the Maritime Association of Peru (Asmarpe) and the National Port Authority (APN) met to propose a series of actions in favor of the competitiveness of the sector.
The president of the union, Erik Fischer Llanos, stressed the importance of public-private work, because in the face of the international crisis – in which Peru has little management capacity to solve it – a scheme is necessary where risks and other expenses that are charged to users can be reduced or avoided.
Along the logistics chain there are areas for improvement that could be addressed in order to solve the factors that cause the loss of competitiveness of companies. One of them is the ‘roleo’ of the export cargo (shipping companies and operators change the ships), which causes delay in dispatches and the consequent loss of markets due to the impossibility of shipping the products in a timely manner.
“The fact of having warehouses full to the top with immobilized merchandise is added, affecting the financial aspects with immobilized capital. This leads to customers looking for closer suppliers,” he said.
During the meeting, other problems were also discussed, such as the lack of appropriate or effective practices in the handling of cargo, since ships can arrive on a certain day, but operators send trucks days in advance, causing queues, so this process must be improved in order to make it more efficient.
In turn, the Deputy Minister of Mincetur, Diego Llosa, reported that his portfolio coordinates with representatives of the Foreign Ministry and experts from other organizations, with whom they address the concerns of all users with service providers.
In that sense, he congratulated the initiative of ADEX for holding virtual forums in which experts from the sector present on the current shipping crisis, which has allowed to collect valuable information from all those involved.
Fischer Llanos proposed to do a work of detection of operational practices that could be improved, as well as to organize a new talk in conjunction with Asmarpe, with a view to publicizing all the tools that exist and thus avoid unnecessary costs, either due to operator management or ignorance.
“Additionally, we will manage a meeting with the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Ministry of Economy and Finance and Mincetur to support the various efforts that contribute to the improvements in the operating systems,” he said.
The representatives of the institutions participating in the meeting expressed their interest in supporting initiatives that seek to reduce cost overruns and make Peruvian foreign trade more competitive.
