Since January 20, 2025, Amaya Teniente has been Managing Director of a. hartrodt Chile with 33 employees at three locations in Santiago and Valparaíso. The Spaniard has been working for the company for more than 13 years, most recently as Managing Director of a. hartrodt Argentina in Buenos Aires. There she trained her successor Leandro Reales to take over from Claus Wendland in Santiago as part of a restructuring program. The German-Peruvian was Managing Director of the Chilean company for 16 years and has been responsible for the Latin America region for six years: "As Regional Director, I am still in charge of 200 employees in seven countries."
Experience at a. hartrodt in Latin America and China
Despite the challenges of the pandemic and government trade restrictions, Amaya Teniente has set the Argentinian office "on a solid path to profitability". In Chile, where a. hartrodt is established as an important market player, she can "work more strategically". The 37-year-old benefits from five years of experience as Trade Manager in Hong Kong. At that time, she was traveling across China and Latin America "increasing the business volume by 10 percent per year".
Strategic focus on sales
In Chile, the new Managing Director puts the strategic focus on sales: "We are very strong in sea freight imports, especially from China, and we consider this an important growth engine." In the first quarter, a. hartrodt will establish an own consolidation service for LCL (less than container load) cargo between Shenzhen/Shanghai and San Antonio. Amaya Teniente also wants to increase the market share for consolidated air freight imports, primarily via the Frankfurt hub with Europe and via Miami with the USA. Business within Latin America is also set to grow, initially with Mexico. Another goal is to "balance imports and exports".
With over 19 million inhabitants, Chile is considered a small country in Latin America and ranks fifth in terms of gross domestic product (2023: 335.5 billion US dollars). Claus Wendland sees a. hartrodt Chile in a good position for the company's 65th anniversary this year.