Cherries of garces Fruit Travelers traveling by air will arrive faster and safer at their destinations, after the company officially received the accreditation of recognized shipper by the approval of the supply chain that delivers the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC). With this, it becomes the first fruit exporting company in Chile in obtaining this certification, which until now was only implemented in the country for the salmon industry.

What is treated as part of the scope of the National Air Cargo Security Program (NASP) The above acknowledges that the supply chain linked to the export of a product - in this case cherries - is safe in all its parts and that, therefore, the cargo arrives risk-free from the processing plant to the air terminal, ready to be shipped.

Ricardo Machuca, head of the Cargo, Mail and Dangerous Goods Security Office of the DGAC, explained that the certification “recognizes that the security models developed from the plant until the fruit reaches the airport comply with the international standard in matters of aviation security, and guarantee that the fruit does not have elements that could put the flight at risk, through objects or substances that could cause an act of illicit interference.”

To obtain this approval, the company had to align its processes to ensure the safety of the product according to aeronautical requirements. In this way, Garces Fruit implemented the standards requested in civil aviation, which means that the cherries are free of foreign elements that could endanger the flight.

“This accreditation lasts two years, but as DGAC we have permanent monitoring mechanisms, which allow us to demonstrate that the security measures implemented and the company's commitment are maintained under the standards that this important recognition entails,” explained Ricardo Machuca, who also emphasized the importance of more industries and companies joining this certification, since “it is a security model recognized by both the United States and the European community.”

“This important certification involved, among other actions, training for more than 200 workers, identification of critical loads and the installation of a metal detector for fruit. It was a project that we saw as difficult, but we managed to get ahead thanks to the commitment of people from different areas, both in the public and private sectors. It is an example of teamwork,” he said. Francisco Eyzaguirre, Commercial Logistics Manager of the Export Division of Garces Fruit.

The normal process of air transporting cherries, without certification, means that 100% of the cargo arriving at the airport must undergo two types of inspections: X-rays and explosive traces, which means an investment of time and costs.

Thanks to the certification provided by the DGAC, from now on only a small percentage of the cherries from the Garces Fruit Mostazal plant will undergo this inspection, “which represents an important efficiency in time, but also in costs, since the inspection process has a value per kilo inspected,” he highlighted. Fernanda Soto, Sustainability Manager of the Industrial Division of Garces Fruit, who was in charge of coordinating the certification work.

In total, the work to obtain the safety accreditation awarded by the DGAC lasted just under a year and arose from a request from the Commercial area. Until now, this certification was held only by companies in the world of salmon farming.

“At one point, the DGAC came to see our plant facilities in Mostazal and after learning about our reality and the processes of the fruit industry, together with our freight forwarding agency we were able to determine the existing gaps and develop the Safety, Instruction and Inspection programs for fruit exports, particularly cherries,” explained Fernanda Soto.

Among other things, this accreditation required training workers, identifying critical loads and a special metal detector for the fruit. “The latter did not exist in the country, so we bought one in Italy that meets the requirements of this accreditation,” explained the person in charge of Sustainability of the Industrial Division of Garces Fruit.

As for the benefits of having this certification, they highlight the time savings and cost reduction. “It is much more efficient, because we can unload faster and reduce storage times, with all the energy savings that this implies,” he says. “This accreditation guarantees that we can load faster and that the fruit has to wait less,” he added.

“The accreditation is for two years, but we want to continuously improve, generating more robust programs and including other fruits in the future, because for now it is only cherry. As our purpose says, we want to continue challenging and transforming the fruit industry,” he concluded. Francisco Eyzaguirre, Commercial Logistics Manager of the Export Division of Garces Fruit.