Danish ship company sees future in L America-Asia trade

The year 2010 comes to a close with a recovery of maritime transport in Latin America, following substantial losses in 2009 due to a global financial crisis, but business could further grow if companies increase business with Asia, said ship companies.

Juan Carlos Pardilla, manager for the Caribbean section of the Danish ship company Maersk Line, discussed this issue in a recent interview with Xinhua at the company's office in Panama City.

In 2009, Maersk Line reported losses of more than 2 billion U.S. dollars, but this year it improved by more than 2 billion dollars from January to September, according to information from the company.

It also had earnings of about 4 billion dollars in A. P. Moller Maersk Group, which manages ports, oil transportation, and the ship company.

"We hope to close the year with the company's profits amounting to about 3 billion dollars (in Maersk Line), but we have to remember what was lost last year, which was huge," said the manager of an operation whose "cluster" includes Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama, Venezuela and the Caribbean.

It also includes the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, the West Indies, Cuba and Puerto Rico.

According to the expert, the flow of merchandise from Asia had an important effect on the recovery of the ship industry this year, particularly on container management, due to the upturn in the fleet and cargo volume.

"I would like to see a bigger shipment of Latin American bananas to Asia," said Pardilla, who explained that this is a good opportunity for the future, given that in this year Maersk Line takes more than 100 containers from Costa Rica to Shanghai in eastern China.

Pardilla said that while China buys a lot of bananas from its neighboring countries like Vietnam and Thailand, there could be an opening in its market for this fruit or for other Latin American products.

He also talked about the development of a container called "StarCare," which was created by a Dutch university, a U.S. university and the Maersk Innovation and Project Department.

Pardilla said that the container's technology allows the company to lower the oxygen level but raise the carbon dioxide and nitrogen levels in the containers, which will help keep the fruit in a state of hibernation.

According to Pardilla, this container will prolong the transport time of the fruit, which is generally 30 days, 45 days or more, and ship it to farther places.

Pardilla said that there is a difference in price when this container is used compared to the traditional container, but he said that it is worthwhile since the new container can help increase business with new markets in the Middle East.

He said that even though the container was created to transport bananas, it is also being used to transport avocados, and evidence shows that the fruit arrives in better condition than in standard containers.

He said that another business opportunity is to send pineapple to Japan and to China's Hong Kong, which he believes is a good possibility due to the increase in pineapple crops in Panama.

He said that this technology is more profitable for bananas, since it is a crop that grows year round, and is not seasonal like other fruits.

"We have also taken bananas to Morocco, to Tunisia and to Saudi Arabia. We are looking at Panama and this can be the opportunity for small sellers to send their products to non-traditional destinations, so that they can obtain a larger profit," said the manager.

Pardilla expressed the hope that the banana production can increase in Panama, which has been affected by labor and structural problems, and he recognized the ship company's interest in exporting more bananas from Colombia with the new container, due to the productive potential in the Uraba region in the north of the country.

"The important thing is to make this invitation to banana producers in Panama. We are open to getting information when it is necessary, because we are interested in moving cargo so that it can be taken to possible buyers in other places," said the ship company representative. 
(Source:xinhua)