The Maersk ship "Saltoro" has been stranded in Asian seas for almost 20 days with 1.363 containers loaded with Chilean cherries, another source of concern for an industry that has not had an easy time this season.

The ship set sail from the port of San Antonio on December 27 bound for the port of Nansha, China, and was expected to arrive on January 17. However, an engine failure ruined the plans and brought with it nervousness.

Nearly 5 million boxes of cherries are at risk. The president of the National Agricultural Society (SNA), Antonio Walker, believes, based on the information he has been given, that the ship will arrive in China on February 9. That is, the containers with cherries will not arrive in time for the Chinese New Year, the most important time for the industry.

«It will arrive after the Chinese New Year, when the market is at its lowest,» said Walker. «It is a ship with a very important volume. We will see what happens because we have to see the quality and condition of this fruit when it reaches its destination, given that express ships take 23, 25 days to reach China, and this ship is already delayed by almost 20 days,» added the president of the main agricultural association of the country. The total value of the cargo would have an estimated value of about US$115 million. According to Walker, there are several companies involved and they run the risk of losing everything. «There are large, medium and small producers.» «It is bad news. In addition, it will affect a little the fruit that is harvested in the south of Chile, because this ship will arrive with the fruit that was harvested in the region of Los Ríos, Los Lagos and Chile Chico.»

Given the possibility that the condition of the cherries may not be of the optimum quality for sale, the president of the SNA commented that "insurance must be in place, since nobody ships without it these days." This is "another hair in the soup" -according to Walker- for an industry that is already experiencing difficult days due to the sharp fall in cherry prices in China this season.