Argentina: More shipments during Corona crisis

"Since July, the number of our shipments has increased by 5 percent compared to the same period last year," says Amaya Teniente, General Manager at a. hartrodt Argentina in Buenos Aires. This upward trend equally affects exports and imports, also at the Mendoza site. In the country with the longest Corona quarantine in the world this is a remarkable performance. The nationwide curfew since March 20 was only eased regionally at the beginning of November, for example in the area of Greater Buenos Aires. In the capital, Teniente plans to expand significantly the reefer container export business with beef and cheese.

Focus on wine export

The Mendoza office was founded by a. hartrodt in 2007. In the western province is located the most important wine growing area of the country. The Food & Beverage range of the family business focuses on the export of wine. "We organize intermodal transport (truck/sea ship) via the Andes and the Chilean ports in San Antonio or Valparaíso to the USA or Southeast Asia and via Buenos Aires to Europe," explains Jorge Caliri, Managing Director at a. hartrodt Argentina in Mendoza.

Customs regulations are constantly changing

While Caliri has more than 40 years of experience in customs brokerage and has built up the national company, Teniente moved from China to South America in early 2020. Both have to cope with constantly changing customs regulations. "Especially when it comes to imports, customs clearance is very complicated," reports Caliri. Customers of a. hartrodt benefit from tailor-made one-stop solutions. In the future, a. hartrodt plans to ship more via the port of Buenos Aires. "Since we work with many carriers, we can offer the best departure times and take care of the shipments on site," says Teniente, summarizing the customer benefits.

In the current year, Argentina is recording rising export volumes, but the export value is stagnating due to the currency decline. Furthermore, the team of a. hartrodt Argentina is fighting against equipment bottlenecks – export containers are missing due to low import volumes.