The terminals do not have storage capacity, the carriers do not want to risk the public order situation and the shipping companies made the decision not to come to Colombia.
Last Wednesday May 19, Colombia witnessed one of those scenarios never before recorded in history, that day also began the greatest crisis that the logistics business has experienced since its consolidation. A group of criminals violated security systems and forcibly entered the TCBuen port in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, despite the company’s efforts to protect the facilities; they had even blocked the access road with containers.
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The port operation, which had been providing with difficulty since the national strike began, had to stop abruptly and personnel were evacuated by sea. At the same time, a group of Esmad accompanied by the Military Gaula tried to take control of the situation.
The directors of the Aguadulce de Compas port decided to transfer the terminal staff on company buses back to their homes. However, one of the vehicles was intercepted by criminals when they arrived in the city center, their belongings were stolen and they threatened to harm them.
The acts of vandalism and invasions were not repeated the following days, but in Buenaventura there is a tense calm. The Mayor’s Office decreed measures such as curfew and dry law, and the presence of the Public Force was also increased. At the close of this edition, uniformed members of the Colombian Navy and the National Police continued to guard the access roads to the port terminals, both by land and by sea, following the orders of the president.
However, the situation is far from resolved. In the midst of the silence of the companies that are in charge of the operation of the ports, dozens of workers received audios with threats to their lives announcing “measures reflected in blood,” according to Caracol Radio. Days ago there was already a fear among the staff for their safety, many did not show up for work or could not arrive due to the public order situation, which delays operations.
Buenaventura is the most important port in Colombia, moves half of the export cargo of the entire country and is the main destination for ships coming from Asia. In 2020, its three terminals (Sociedad Portuaria de Buenaventura, TCBuen and Aguadulce) handled almost 19 million tons between imports and exports.
At the terminals, human and electronic surveillance and the presence of the Public Force have been reinforced. Colonel Wisner Paz, commander of the Marine Infantry Brigade, confirmed to this media that a Unified Command Post was installed to deal with situations of disturbance of public order that may arise in Buenaventura.
Follow the news of El Espectador on Google NewsThe Ministry of Defense issued a resolution in which it reduced the level of protection of the port of Buenaventura, which had been increased to level two on May 19, considering that “it is possible to maintain risk levels that allow the development of maritime and port activities in the region ”.
Tomás Quiñónez, former director of the Buenaventura Port Society, believes that it was the best decision, considering that keeping the risk level high projects a negative image of Colombia and its logistics abroad that is difficult to correct in the short term, ” To raise it is to tell the entire group of shipping services that Buenaventura has security problems, that scares investments, ”he said.
But this did not prevent the world’s largest shipping companies, including Maersk, Cosco, Evergreen Marine, CMA CGM, Hamburd Sud and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), from closing reservations for the Buenaventura terminal and suspending trips from all origins to Buenaventura and even towards Colombia until further notice, “due to the difficult situation currently being experienced by the national strike,” according to the ports. It is known that ships with urgent embarkation to Colombia will be diverted to Cartagena, Barranquilla, Santa Marta or Turbo. Others will prefer to continue to Ecuador or Peru.
At the same time, international cargo agency service companies, such as Transborder, told their clients that they were looking for alternatives for handling cargo while the service was reactivated and the public order situation stabilized.
“It had never happened before that a port facility was forcibly entered. In the past there were other strikes, but the shipping lines always touched Buenaventura because the terminals were not affected. What is happening now has a connotation of violence and the shipping companies do not want to put their ships or people at risk ”, concluded Quiñónez. The immediate consequence is that shipping lines are misconfigured, which necessarily implies cost overruns for importers and exporters and, consequently, for consumers, who will have to pay for more expensive products.
The fact is that Colombia has already stopped fulfilling commercial commitments due to the difficulties that have arisen for the withdrawal of merchandise. Added to the situation with shipping companies is the fact that the port terminals in Buenaventura are reaching their maximum capacity, so they have problems receiving or storing containers or additional bulk cargo, given the difficulty of moving products inside the country.
“The level of storage in the ports is very worrying, there is very little cargo that they will be able to continue receiving until the unblocking of the road is achieved and the transport of cargo returns to normal. At this moment there is an evaluation by the shipping companies about what will happen, regarding their cargo dispatches to Buenaventura, ”said the captain of the Fragata Javier Gómez, maritime authority in the port of Buenaventura in an interview with this newspaper.
At the beginning of this week, a caravan of trucks guarded by the Public Force was organized in which 60 vehicles left, and despite the accompaniment, at least 20 of them were caught in a shooting and drivers chose to abandon the load, which has fueled your fear of serving. Last Wednesday, during the invasion of the terminals, the attackers also attacked the parking lots for trucks, robbed and vandalized.
This motivated the Federation of Freight Transport Entrepreneurs (Fedetranscarga) to ask the insurance union, Fasecolda, not to collect or recover coverage for claims due to loss of merchandise and looting. “Freight transporters in general at the country level acted in good faith and with the conviction that operations would be duly safeguarded,” the union said in a letter to the Government.
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However, the problems are just beginning. Captain Luis Martínez, practical pilot in Buenaventura (he helps the ships in the maneuvers to enter the port and put the ship in position for disembarkation), said that until noon on Friday the reception of the cargo happened in a normal way , on average four boats arrive a day. This is because the largest ships arrive in Buenaventura from Asia after 30 or 40 days sailing and the container ships spend about 20 days at sea before boarding. The effect will be delayed. It is expected that in the coming days the lack of ships will begin to be visible, “arrivals will gradually become more distant,” he commented.
Incalculable losses
The Colombian Federation of Logistics Agents in International Trade (Fitac) reports losses of $ 40,000 million just for the 90,000 tons of dammed cargo. The total damages have not yet been calculated. The union made an emergency call to the National Government for “the unprecedented impact that logistics and foreign trade have experienced” and expressed concern about the serious situation. “Today the sector is seriously affected by the conditions of security, mobility and vandalism in various regions of the country, particularly the southwestern part of the country, where the main port of Colombia, Buenaventura, is located, today plagued by crime.” Ángel Espinosa, president of Fitac.
“They are incalculable costs for logistics due to acts of vandalism and terrorism. Our obligation as a union is to make known that this situation is no longer waiting. One more day of blockades at the Buenaventura port terminals would mean tens of billions in losses in merchandise, investment and direct and indirect jobs, a situation that would leave our member companies without room for maneuver and with a very high risk of business continuity ”, he warned.
The most recent report from the Buenaventura Port Society, with a cut-off to Friday, May 21, shows that since April 28, when the national strike began, “there has been a significant damming of cargo.” The terminal said that it continues making important efforts to receive the import cargo that arrives daily, but called for the talks to move forward quickly to find a solution to the crisis.
In terms of exports alone, more than 16,900 tons of coffee, 20,400 tons of sugar, 1,880 tons of solid bulk, 2,250 tons of general cargo and 48,460 tons of containerized cargo have stopped leaving this terminal. In imports, the figures are close to 188,300 tons of solid bulk, 99,000 tons of general cargo and 169,200 tons of containerized cargo, for a total of 456,500 tons of cargo without being able to reach its destination.
But the damages go further. Buenaventura’s economy is mainly driven by the port, services such as hotels, restaurants, auto mechanics or the sale of auto parts depend mostly on foreign trade, not to mention the generation of employment at all levels, since it is estimated that around the ports about 20,000 people are employed every day. There is also the threat that this situation will end up spreading to the other terminals, after years of efforts and investments by companies to improve the competitiveness of their businesses.
