Chile's Association of Fruit Exporters (Asoex) says that it is "deeply concerned" about the country's port situation, which it says may have a serious impact on the mobilization of both import and export cargo.

Last week, four ships had to were not permitted to enter their respective ports. There has been at least one case of covid-19 infection on these vessels, which has prevented them from unloading and loading.

Asoex urged the authorities in Chile to agree on a protocol to adequately manage this situation as soon as possible. It said isolation regulations should be implemented for infected people, which the ship should also be sanitized, along with any other other measure to ensure the normal performance of the functions, both of the national navy personnel and of the port workers in general.

"We reiterate, if the current situation continues and assuming that similar cases will occur in the future, it will produce a chaos difficult to manage in our ports," Asoex said.