Maersk to make reefers in Chile

   Maersk Container Industry (MCI), the container manufacturing business unit of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, said Friday it has started construction on a new factory in San Antonio, Chile, to produce refrigerator containers for Latin America’s export boom.
   The $170 million factory is scheduled to begin operating by the end of 2013, with an expected output of 40,000 reefer containers and 30,000 reefer machines annually.
   “We position our investment on the basis of future world trade flows,” said MCI Chief Executive Officer Peter Nymand. “This investment is a supplement to our important reefer factory in Qingdao, China, where we are also expanding.”
   MCI said the factory will help to correct a reefer trade imbalance that disadvantages exporters of fresh produce, fish and meat from western South America.
   “Each year, tens of thousands of containers are shipped in empty from Asia and elsewhere,” MCI said. “After 2013 this shortage will be less acute as MCI starts its local supply.”
   Aside from Qingdao, MCI has factories in Dongguan and Huidong, both in China. Its current annual output is 200,000 dry container, 41,000 reefers and 37,000 reefer machines.