Chile is 4,300 km long and, in places, barely 200 km wide — a country shaped like a shipping lane, and one of the world’s most open trading economies, where duty is frequently zero under one agreement or another. The difficulty here is physical rather than bureaucratic: port congestion, coastal weather closures, and mining cargo that has to climb from a Pacific port into the Andes are where Chilean shipments actually go wrong.
At IFN we connect businesses with vetted, independent freight forwarders worldwide through our global freight network. Our premium Chile members are listed first below — followed by the ports, customs and vetting detail you need to brief them properly.
IFN member freight forwarders in Chile
Cold-searching for a forwarder means trusting a website. Working through a freight network means working with companies screened before admission — for operating history, financial standing and reputation — and that have something to lose by underperforming.
IFN spans 93+ countries. Members are individually vetted, covered by our cargo payment protection programme against non-payment and insolvency, and they meet face to face each year at IFN Global Connect.
LTI Cargo
- Location: Huérfanos 1160, Oficina 1160, Santiago
- Established: 2020
- Company size: 1–10 employees
- Website: lticargo.cl
- Cargo payment protection: Active
- Services: ocean and air freight, FCL and LCL, oversize and overweight cargo, depot and storage, heavy lift, cargo insurance, hazmat/IMO handling, cargo security
- Specialism: project, heavy lift and oversize cargo alongside general freight
LTI Cargo operates from Huérfanos in central Santiago, in the city’s traditional commercial district — close to the customs agencies, banks and importer head offices, and roughly 100 km inland from the San Antonio and Valparaíso port complex. For an overseas partner, that positioning matters: Santiago is where Chilean import decisions are made and where documentation is processed, even though the cargo lands on the coast.
What stands out in their service profile is the explicit project and heavy-lift capability sitting alongside standard FCL and LCL work. In a country whose economy runs on mining, that is not a marginal add-on. Equipment moving to a copper operation in the Atacama is oversize, overweight, frequently classified as hazardous, and has to travel from a Pacific port up into the mountains — a combination that a purely commodity-freight forwarder will struggle with. LTI also lists hazmat/IMO handling and cargo security services, both directly relevant to that traffic.
In their own words: “We are a freight forwarder company, with advantage service for shipment from or to Chile … Our multimodal setup offers a broad range of services, including all modes of land transport, air transport, ocean transport, warehouse and all complementary cargo services our customer may require, not just for regular cargo, but for project, heavy lift and oversize cargo as well.”
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Looking for more options in Chile?
IFN’s Chilean coverage is currently a single specialist member, and our network continues to expand. If LTI Cargo is not the right fit for your particular lane — or you need coverage in the far north or the southern regions — contact our team. We can advise as our Chile coverage grows, or connect you with well-positioned members in Peru, Brazil, Colombia and the wider region who already handle Chilean trade.
Browse the IFN Member DirectoryBefore you brief any Chilean forwarder, it is worth understanding which port you should be quoting, how Aduanas clearance and Chile’s trade agreements affect your duty, and which questions separate a competent partner from an expensive one. The rest of this guide covers exactly that.
What a freight forwarder in Chile handles
A forwarder is not a carrier. They buy transport capacity in volume, resell it, and manage everything around it. In Chile the surrounding work covers:
- Booking ocean or air capacity on services calling Chilean ports — most of which transship
- Customs clearance through the Servicio Nacional de Aduanas via the SICEX single-window platform
- Coordination with an agente de aduanas — the licensed customs agent who legally files your declaration
- Duty and IVA calculation — and, critically, confirming whether a trade agreement takes your duty to zero
- Regulatory approvals — SAG for agricultural, animal and plant products; ISP for health-related goods; other sector regulators as applicable
- Inland transport along an extremely long country — from Arica in the far north to Punta Arenas in Patagonia
- Mining and project cargo handling — oversize, overweight, hazardous and high-altitude deliveries
- Warehousing, depot and bonded storage
- Cargo insurance placement
For the role explained from the ground up, see our complete guide to international freight forwarders.
Chile’s major ports and airports
Seaports
| Port | Region | Best for |
| San Antonio (CLSAI) | Valparaíso Region | Chile’s largest container port. Closest to Santiago — the default gateway for the central zone and the capital |
| Valparaíso (CLVAP) | Valparaíso Region | Historic principal port; containers, fruit exports, cruise. Shares the central-zone role with San Antonio |
| Antofagasta (CLANF) | Antofagasta Region | The mining gateway — copper exports, mining equipment and project cargo inbound |
| Mejillones (CLMJS) | Antofagasta Region | Deep-water industrial port serving the mining belt; bulk and project cargo |
| Iquique (CLIQQ) | Tarapacá Region | Free trade zone (ZOFRI) — re-export and distribution to Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay |
| Arica (CLARI) | Arica y Parinacota | Far north; principal transit gateway for Bolivian cargo under treaty arrangements |
| Coronel and Lirquén (CLCNL / CLLQN) | Bío Bío Region | Forestry, wood pulp, paper — the southern industrial base |
| Puerto Montt / Coronel | Los Lagos | Salmon and aquaculture, reefer traffic, southern distribution |
Airports
| Airport | Location | Best for |
| Arturo Merino Benítez (SCL) | Santiago | Chile’s dominant air cargo gateway — fresh fruit, salmon, pharma, mining spares, high-value electronics |
| Antofagasta (ANF) | Antofagasta | Urgent mining components and spares |
| Iquique (IQQ) | Iquique | ZOFRI-linked air cargo |
The routing decision that matters: the default for anything destined for Santiago is San Antonio or Valparaíso, and the two are effectively interchangeable on paper — but not in practice, because congestion and weather closures affect them differently. If your cargo is bound for a mining operation in the north, shipping to Antofagasta or Mejillones rather than trucking 1,300 km up from San Antonio is almost always the correct call, and it is one that overseas forwarders unfamiliar with Chile routinely get wrong. Ask for a delivered-to-site comparison.
Indicative ocean transit times to San Antonio
| Origin | Typical port-to-port |
| Shanghai / Ningbo | 30–40 days |
| Shenzhen / Guangzhou | 28–38 days |
| Busan | 30–38 days |
| Los Angeles / Long Beach | 16–24 days |
| Rotterdam / Hamburg | 26–36 days |
| Genoa / Barcelona | 28–38 days |
| Santos (Brazil) | 12–20 days |
Indicative only. Most services to Chile transship — commonly via Panama, Callao, Manzanillo or Balboa — and the relay point can swing transit by a week or more. Panama Canal transit conditions have also been variable. Always confirm the actual string and routing on your quote.
Chilean customs: Aduanas, channels and why duty is often zero
Chile is, by regional standards, a straightforward customs environment. The main opportunity is making sure you actually capture the tariff preference you are entitled to.
The trade agreement advantage
Chile has one of the widest free trade agreement networks of any country — covering the United States, the European Union, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Canada, Mercosur, the Pacific Alliance, the CPTPP and many others. The general MFN duty rate is a flat 6%, but in practice a very large share of Chilean imports enter at 0% under one of these agreements.
The catch is documentary. A preferential rate requires a valid certificate of origin or origin declaration meeting that specific agreement’s rules. Without it you pay the full 6% — recoverable only in limited circumstances. Confirm with your supplier that they can issue compliant origin documentation before you order, and have your forwarder verify which agreement applies to your tariff code and origin country.
The inspection channels
Chilean Aduanas applies a risk-based selectivity system to import declarations:
- Green channel — released without physical or documentary examination
- Orange / documentary review — paperwork examined before release
- Red channel — physical inspection of the goods
Selection is driven by importer history, tariff heading, declared value and origin. Chile’s customs administration is comparatively efficient, and a clean declaration with correct origin documentation usually clears quickly.
What you need in place
- RUT and a Chilean importer entity — or an importer of record acting for you
- An agente de aduanas — the licensed customs agent. Mandatory for commercial imports above the minimum value threshold
- Correct tariff classification — Chile uses the 8-digit Harmonized System code
- Certificate of origin — the single highest-value document in Chilean importing, as above
- SAG approval for agricultural, animal, plant and wood products — Chile enforces biosecurity unusually strictly, because its isolation protects a valuable agricultural export sector
- ISP registration for pharmaceuticals, medical devices and health-related goods
- Spanish-language documentation where required
- ISPM 15 treated wood packaging — rigorously enforced
A note on biosecurity. Chile is geographically isolated by the Andes, the Atacama and the Pacific, and that isolation keeps its fruit, wine and salmon industries free of pests found elsewhere. SAG protects it aggressively. If your shipment involves wood packaging, plant material, soil contamination on machinery, or anything of agricultural origin, treat SAG compliance as a primary risk rather than a formality. Used mining and construction equipment is a frequent problem — it must arrive genuinely clean.
What it costs
| Charge | What it is | Typical range |
| Customs duty (arancel) | Flat MFN rate on CIF value | 6% — but frequently 0% under a trade agreement |
| IVA | Value added tax on CIF + duty | 19% |
| Customs agent fee | Agente de aduanas handling | Per declaration; often a percentage of CIF with a minimum |
| Port and terminal charges | THC, documentation, storage | Varies by terminal |
| Inland transport | Port to Santiago, or to a northern mine site | Short to Santiago; substantial to the mining regions |
| Project cargo surcharges | Escort, permits, route survey for oversize loads | Where applicable — can be significant |
Two planning points. First, IVA at 19% is charged on CIF plus duty and is recoverable for registered Chilean businesses — but you pay it at the border, so it is a cash-flow item rather than a cost. Second, the inland leg varies enormously. San Antonio to Santiago is roughly 100 km and cheap. San Antonio to a mine site in the Antofagasta region is well over 1,000 km through desert and altitude, and for oversize loads may require permits, route surveys and escorts. Any quote that does not specify the delivery point in detail is not a real quote.
Demurrage and detention: free time at Chilean terminals is finite, and congestion at San Antonio and Valparaíso has been a recurring issue, as have weather-driven port closures on the exposed Pacific coast. Confirm your free days, the daily rate, and what happens if the terminal — not you — causes the delay.
How to vet a freight forwarder in Chile
Whether you are speaking to LTI Cargo or a forwarder you found elsewhere, ask these questions.
- “Is my product eligible for preferential duty, and which agreement applies?” With Chile’s FTA network, this is the question with the largest financial consequence. A forwarder who cannot answer for your tariff code and origin has not done the work.
- “Are you OEA certified?” Operador Económico Autorizado is Chile’s AEO trusted-trader programme. Certified operators see faster release and fewer examinations.
- “Which agente de aduanas do you work with, and are they in-house?” You need to know who files your declaration and who carries the liability.
- “Does my shipment trigger SAG requirements, and what is the lead time?” Wood packaging, machinery with soil residue and anything agricultural. Getting this wrong causes fumigation, re-export or destruction — all at your cost.
- “Quote me delivered to my exact destination, not to the port.” Chile’s length makes this essential. A Santiago delivery and an Antofagasta mine-site delivery are not comparable numbers.
- “For project cargo — do you handle permits, route surveys and escorts?” If you are moving mining or industrial equipment, ask this before anything else.
- “Which network do you belong to?” IFN, WCA, FIATA. Network membership means a third party vetted them financially and there is a dispute mechanism. You can check ours in the IFN member directory.
Red flags: rates dramatically below market, no verifiable RUT, reluctance to name their customs agent, inland transport quoted as “to be confirmed”, no cargo insurance option, or payment requested to a personal account.
Frequently asked questions
How long does customs clearance take in Chile?
Chile is comparatively efficient. A clean declaration with correct origin documentation and no SAG involvement often clears within one to three days. Documentary review adds a few days, physical inspection longer, and SAG-related issues — fumigation, cleaning or rejection — can take considerably longer because they involve physical remediation, not just paperwork.
Do I need a Chilean company to import into Chile?
You need a RUT and a Chilean entity registered for the activity, or an importer of record acting on your behalf. Foreign suppliers commonly ship to a Chilean distributor or use an IOR arrangement. Confirm in writing who is the importer of record and who bears duty and tax liability.
How much is import duty and VAT in Chile?
The general MFN duty rate is a flat 6% on CIF value, and IVA is 19% on CIF plus duty. However, because Chile has free trade agreements with most of its major partners, a large share of imports qualify for 0% duty — provided you hold a valid certificate of origin under the relevant agreement.
Should I ship to San Antonio or Valparaíso?
For Santiago and the central zone, either works and the two are close substitutes; your forwarder should pick based on current congestion, service schedules and terminal performance rather than habit. For northern mining destinations, neither is right — look at Antofagasta or Mejillones instead.
Why is SAG such a big issue in Chile?
Because Chile’s geographic isolation keeps its agricultural export industries free of pests and diseases that exist elsewhere, and that status is commercially valuable. SAG enforces biosecurity strictly as a result. Wood packaging must be ISPM 15 compliant, and used machinery must arrive genuinely free of soil and plant residue. Non-compliance leads to fumigation, cleaning, re-export or destruction at the importer’s cost.
Can I use Chile to reach Bolivia or Peru?
Yes. Iquique’s ZOFRI free trade zone is a long-established re-export and distribution platform for Bolivia, Peru and Paraguay, and Arica handles substantial Bolivian transit cargo under treaty arrangements. If your ultimate market is landlocked Bolivia, routing through northern Chile is a standard approach — ask your forwarder to price it against Peruvian alternatives.
Are you a freight forwarder in Chile?
If your company provides freight forwarding or customs agency services in Chile, IFN offers a direct route to cargo referrals from vetted independent forwarders across 93+ countries — backed by payment protection and an annual conference where the relationships actually get built. Chile is an active lane for our members and one where we are actively expanding coverage, particularly in the northern mining regions and the southern forestry and aquaculture corridors.
Review the full list of inclusions on our membership benefits page, compare options on our membership plans page, explore our member tools and resources, or read more on the frieght and logistics industry blog.
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