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Ecuador ended 2023 with a record-breaking crime rate, marking the highest level of violence in the nation’s history. Official figures reported a total of 7,878 crimes committed up to December 31, 2023, translating to a rate of 46.5 violent murders per hundred thousand inhabitants. The alarming crime rate was compounded by a high level of impunity, indicative of narco politics and a compromised judicial system.

Ecuador dispatched security forces to its main port terminals and some key transportation routes for fruit and cocoa to allow export operations to continue, exporters informed on January 10. Ecuador is the world's largest exporter of bananas and the third-largest global producer of cocoa, the chocolate-making commodity. The family of President Daniel Noboa has a large banana-exporting business. The country has been rocked this week by violence coming from criminal gangs linked to drug trafficking. Noboa said the Government is at war with the gangs.

Ecuador is interested in maintaining its supply of bananas and other products to the Russian market, notwithstanding recent events where criminal gangs caused unrest after President Daniel Noboa ordered a curfew due to the escape from prison of one of the criminal group's leaders. The President later called the situation in the country an "internal armed conflict."

Dole Food Company announced the launch of a new weekly vessel service called the Northeast United States, starting December 31, 2023. The expanded service will increase the capacity of tropical fresh fruits, including Dole branded bananas, pineapples, dragon fruit, mangoes, and limes, coming to the US from Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala into the Port of Wilmington, DE.

The deadline for the registration of contracts for banana exports leaving the country from January 1., to the different international destinations was met on December 31, 2023, and, according to exporters and producers, only some of the fruit was contracted. As established by the Banana Law, 100% of the fruit to be exported should have a contract as it is the only mechanism for exporting the fruit.

DP World Posorja started in 2024, marking a new milestone in its fourth year of operations with the arrival of the Post-Panamax Maersk Evora, which officially inaugurates the exclusive calls of the Maersk line to the port operated by D.P. World in Ecuador. The Maersk Evora ship left Shanghai, passing through Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico before reaching Posorja in Ecuador. The vessel has a LOA (length) of 366 meters, a beam (width) of 48 meters, and a draft that can reach a depth of 15 meters.

Banana selling prices in St Petersburg were USD 20.40-22.60 per box CIF according to brand, quality, packing, and volume. Demand for the fruit was weak due to very low temperatures -25 to -30 degrees C - which mainly affected street sales and discharge operations in the port of St. Petersburg. The long holiday period, which extends to Jan 8, is also among the causes of the drop in sales.

On January 2 2024, A.P. Moller–Meersk announced that it would break all ships bound for the Red Sea / Gulf of Aden, considering the recent incident involving Maersk Hangzhou and ongoing developments in the area. The situation is constantly evolving and remains highly volatile, and all available intelligence confirms that the security risk continues to be significantly elevated.

The Panama Canal Authority is studying possible solutions to the problems plaguing the canal due to the lack of rainfall. These include an artificial lake to pump water into the canal and cloud seeding to increase rainfall, but both options would take years to implement, if feasible at all. With water levels languishing at 1.8 meters below average, the Canal Authority limited the number of ships crossing it.

The Mondoni Banana Company strengthens the presence of the Fruit Company in Cameroon. The Compagnie Fruitière de Marseille, leader of the banana market in Cameroon, recently launched a new subsidiary in the country. The Mondoni Banana Company (CDBM) has been operational since June 2023 and strengthens the presence of the French agro-industrial multinational in the Cameroonian banana market.

European supermarkets are reportedly requesting a decrease of 1.30 euros on the price of a box of bananas, which prompted producers and exporters of the fruit in several Latin American countries to express their dissatisfaction with what they call "inconsistency between the sustainable practices required of producers and commercial practices".

European supermarkets are requesting a reduction in the purchase price of bananas from Latin America. According to a sector representative, if the proposal becomes effective, there would be direct economic effects on banana activity in Costa Rica, which involves 150,000 families and generates about $ 1,000 million annually in exports.

At the South Pacific Terminal (TPS) of Valparaíso, Cool Carriers ship Knud Reefer embarked 2,000 pallets of fruit destined for the U.S. East Coast market, which will be discharged at the Port of Gloucester. The loading operations were carried out at Site 5 of the Port of Valparaíso concessionaire, and once completed, the Knud Reefer will stop at Puerto Caldera, Atacama Region, to repeat the operation in Valparaíso.

The Unions Filt-Cgil, Fit-Cisl, and Uiltrasporti have announced a three-day strike of the staff working on the Vado Gateway platform from 15 to January 18. It is the first strike since the opening of this terminal. The protest began after the stalemate in negotiations with the company regarding the requests of the social partners, who aim to obtain an additional 10 euros per day on the flexibility chapter, to adapt wages to the cost of living, and a new agreement on training.