Only Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping confirm they will take bananas to China

The shipping lines warned of the blow to the export sector of Ecuador. Two of the three services that go directly to China will not arrive in Ecuadorian ports.

Only Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping confirm they will take bananas to China

The president of the Association of Private Port Terminals ( Asotep ), Sergio Murillo, said that only one service, of the three that go to China, will dock at the ports of Guayaquil next week.

This will impact the output of bananas and shrimp , as it disrupts all the logistics plans of the two main perishable export items.

The main one of the private ports emphasizes that the shipping companies will work from other countries, such as Panama, but the transhipment of Ecuador in this way might not be as feasible for the economic interests of the exporters: the travel time would be extended up to about 10 days and freight costs will be higher.

That is, the fruit could have arrived ripe.

Richard Salazar, executive director of Acorbanec (Banana Marketing and Export Association), confirms that the line that will carry cargo is Maersk.

Mediterranean Shipping Company sources said today, February 27, 2020, that they will continue to operate in China, so they will continue to ship bananas to that destination.

The problem is that there is an accumulation of containers in China, not only of bananas, but of shrimp and other products.

Ecuador also exports to China wood, frozen fish, cocoa beans, molluscs ($ 12.9 million). Shrimp exports totaled 2,085 million in 2019 and banana 220 million dollars.

So far the price of the banana box has not felt the effects of the crisis in China.

Federico Ferber, of the BBC company, on the other hand has had no problems. He says that the problem arises in certain Chinese terminals and that one is his ships is loading drills, in Esmeraldas, which are used in the oil industry.

Likewise, another ship with transformers arrives next week, and that the ship that comes out with copper normally unloads in bulk terminals and does not have so many problems. Copper, in the form that exports it from Ecuador, if it is in contact with moisture for a long time, solidifies.

https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/economia/maersk-llevara-banano-china-5849.html