International Shipping from Chile

Exporting is not importing in reverse

An import arrives and waits for you. An export leaves on a date that someone else set: the vessel's cut-off, the airline's acceptance, the buyer's letter of credit. Miss one and the whole chain shifts by a week.

We work backwards from the date the cargo has to be at destination, and tell you the latest the goods can leave your plant. That is the only number that actually matters when you export.

What Chile exports, and how it moves

• Fresh fruit and salmon: reefer containers and air freight, where a day is the difference between premium and clearance price
• Wine: reefer or dry depending on the season and the destination, with the SAG and excise paperwork that goes with it
• Mining supplies and equipment: often out-of-gauge, needing flat racks and route studies
• Forestry and cellulose: breakbulk and containerised, in volume
• Manufactured goods and samples: air freight and consolidated ocean

The documentation an export needs

• DUS — the Chilean export declaration, filed by our in-house broker
• Commercial invoice and packing list, matching each other exactly
• Certificate of origin, which is what gets your buyer the preferential tariff
• Phytosanitary or health certificates (SAG, Sernapesca, ISP) where the goods require them
• Bill of Lading or AWB, issued against the shipping instructions you approve

Incoterms decide who carries the risk

Agreeing to sell CIF when you meant FOB changes who pays the freight, who insures the cargo and at what point a loss stops being yours. It is the single most expensive thing to get wrong in an export contract, and it is agreed before anyone speaks to a forwarder.

If you tell us the Incoterm before you sign, we will tell you what it commits you to. It costs nothing and it has saved clients more than any freight rate we have ever negotiated.

Getting paid, and what logistics has to do with it

Under a letter of credit, the bank pays against documents, not against delivery. A Bill of Lading with a typo, a certificate dated a day late or a description that does not match the credit word for word is a discrepancy, and a discrepancy means the bank can refuse to pay.

We prepare export documents against the terms of the credit, not against a template. It is the least glamorous part of the service and the one that protects the most money.