By Maria Kalamatas | May 16, 2025
Santiago —
The containers are full. The harvests are ready. The trucks are stuck in line.
In 2025, Chile is exporting more than ever—copper, lithium, berries, salmon. Global demand is strong, and production is responding. But logistics teams on the ground say they’re out of breath.
“We have no shortage of goods,” said a freight dispatcher near Santiago. “We’re running out of time, trucks, and room to move.”
The country’s road network is aging. Its ports are busy beyond design. And its cold chain infrastructure—crucial for perishables—is operating under heavy stress. There’s no crisis, but there’s constant pressure. And it’s building.
Some exporters are shifting schedules to avoid peak weeks. Others are pooling loads or reserving capacity weeks in advance. Margins are thinning. Delays, once rare, are now part of the daily routine.
Rail is still limited. Air freight is too expensive for most goods. And so the burden falls on trucking—overworked and under-supported.
The government has presented a series of plans: modernization initiatives, digital clearance upgrades, and new corridors under discussion. But much of it remains in planning phases. On the ground, fixes are improvised—extra shifts, longer hours, workarounds.
Chile isn’t losing ground economically. But it is losing time.
And in logistics, time is the first thing that breaks everything else.
