Fepasa
Chile’s freight industry is undergoing a serious stage of modernization and integration, with the goal of maintaining its level of competitiveness in today’s world.
Facing these changes, Fepasa is implementing significant changes that favor its clients. The company currently integrates valuable services in its product portfolio and develops alliances for integrating solutions that require specializations beyond its current experience. It delivers to the market not only railway and road transport, but also services for transfers, storage, comprehensive railway outsourcing, railway and logistics consulting and more.
In this context, Fepasa – which has more than 20 years of experience in the Chilean rail freight market – owns a leadership role in the country’s logistics network.
Fepasa is currently the nation’s largest cargo company, transporting more than 7 million tons of freight each year, with clients in the forestry, mining, industrial and grain industries. Fepasa is organized into three business areas: rail transport, road transport and logistical or value-added services.
With a geographic reach of more than 1,700 kilometers of railways, between the country’s fifth and tenth regions, Fepasa connects all the ports located in this zone with more than 10 multimodal terminals. This allows the company to offer transport solutions to the largest exporters and importers.
Fepasa operates three business divisions. The first is the railway transport on the Empresa de Ferrocarriles del Estado S.A., (EFE) (translates to “State Company Railway”), which Fepasa uses as an operator, while paying tolls for using the state highway. Using the same line, Fepasa provides private route rail transport outside of the EFE network, which are property of clients or its own investments. Logistical services are also offered for clients who require comprehensive services, including train loading and unloading, administration of transfer terminals, distribution, stock control, truck transport to the final destination and integrating third-party services when necessary through strategic alliances.
Finally, the company provides road transport through its affiliate Transporte Fepasa, which currently attends to clients in the mining sector through door-to-door truck services and has a high potential for growth.
Fepasa has always offered high-volume cargo transport for medium and long distances, and its railways have remained competitive in terms of trucks. This vision has gradually been expanded, first with the creation of the truck subsidiary, and then enhanced in 2013, when the strategy became to expand the company’s business lines to other areas.
“To provide new solutions, we have expanded the methodology of co-innovation with clients to understand and resolve their needs. We have also implemented the lean Six Sigma system to improve and refine the services which are already underway, generating major security and efficiency in our operations, taking care of our collaborators, the community and the environment,” Fepasa General Manager Claudio Gonzalez explains.
The company has endeavored to develop various services in diverse areas. In the mining area, it has implemented a model for comprehensive logistical management. In effect, Fepasa takes over logistics from the origin to the destination, including truck transport, train, terminals and associated services. In the industrial industry, the company outsourced railways and the transport of oversized beams. In the area of containers, Fepasa finds itself consolidating its network of Multimode Terminals, which serve as extensions of the ports or dry ports for clients, thus supporting the country’s market.
Fepasa’s Future
The rail cargo market in Chile faces an auspicious future thanks to the existence of new railroad projects with current clients and also with industries that are no longer using train transport as frequently. In this scenario, Fepasa faces the challenge of assisting other companies as they grow, providing transport solutions that are comprehensive, efficient, contaminate less, reduce accidents and congestion incidents, and at the same time contribute to the reduction of the carbon footprint, which will be essential for the country’s future exporting market.