Working - The Empty Container Port in Valparaiso

Lest you think it is all play here in Valparaiso/Vina, let me share the photos I took last week when our research team (Jimena, Rosa, Diego and I) visited the empty container yard in Valparaiso.  This dusty place takes in empty containers from the ships (both dry and reefer - refrigerated).  They do some maintenance, mainly on the reefer containers, and test the containers for integrity.  But, mainly they store them.  They are stacked up to seven high and wait there, about a month on average, for pick up by trucks which take them to get loaded up to be transported by ships elsewhere.  Since Chile is more of an importer than an exporter there are a lot of empty containers around.

We are considering helping improve these operations (which are completely manual and less than efficient) through newly designed layouts of the yard and possibly some kind of simple information system.  We met with the industrial engineer (a recent PUCV graduate) and the manager of the yard.  Both seem progressive and eager to improve their operations through analytical methods.  Let's see what develops but there are opportunities here in this forgotten bit of the shipping industry located in the highlands (translate, low rent district) of Valparaiso.

A view of the empty container port in Valparaiso

Stacked refrigerated (reefer) containers

Detail of a refrigerator unit

Since I didn't have hard cap shoes I got to wear these Donald Duck shoe toppers - not very comfortable

We dressed in full battle gear for the walk through the container yard

Containers are loaded and off loaded from the trucks with specialized cranes

A crane in action loading a container on a truck

A worker explains how they test the reefer containers for proper working order and structural integrity

The dry container yard

The stacked containers turn into modern art

A final view - hope to be able to make a difference in this important but neglected aspect of international container shipping