According to the Samtech Transportation Index, the passenger transport sector is the most affected; however, it established that distributors related to cold chains and food increased their mobility.

Two months after the arrival of the coronavirus in the country, multiple industries have seen their operations reduced due to sanitary measures.

Based on data collected from March 10 to May 4, the Samtech Transportation Index (STI) report revealed that one of the industries most affected by the health crisis has been passenger transport, which reached a point of maximum decline. 67% in their trips during the last week of April. While in March, the sector reduced its displacements by almost 50%. At the beginning of May, meanwhile, it maintained this trend with a drop of around 28%, compared to the month of March.

The STI report is a measurement by the Chilean IT services, fleet monitoring and management company Samtech, which analyzed more than 59 million kilometers traveled by the main productive sectors of our country.

In addition to passenger transport, it includes the sector of cold chains, mining, mining fleets, industrial waste, among others, to learn about the effects of the health crisis on its operations.

Another sector affected by mobility restrictions, but with less intensity, is industrial waste, which decreased its range of movement by 10% in the last two months (March-April), according to the same report.

However, distributors related to cold chains and food increased their mobility, in the first days of the quarantine in the country, from mid-March to April, by about 9%. A trend that is explained by the supply demand for the retail business, supermarkets and other actors in the food and pharmaceutical industry, due to the impact of the coronavirus in the country.

The study also reports that industries such as operating leasing, light mining fleets and mining have maintained what it describes as a relatively stable mobility curve, 'a situation that is related to more resilient industries with greater adaptability, which have maintained their operations and production processes, despite the sanitary restriction measures, imposed by the authority, to reduce the sources of contagion of coronavirus in the country,' says the Samtech report.

The STI is the first existing indicator in our country that makes it possible to generate a reference for the activity of an industry based on the change in the travel rate of the associated vehicle fleet.

This indicator is based on a simple observation of the number of kilometers covered by the observed fleets without identifying patents, locations, drivers or any other sensitive or confidential information and is a referential indicator on industries whose operations are based on land transport.

'The STI not only allows diagnosing the current panorama of multiple industries, according to their mobility and displacement, but also provides a clear signal of which will be the productive sectors that must be transformed and adapted to the new needs and reality of the country, when the Covid -19 is no longer present,' explained Cristián Barrientos, general manager of Samtech.

In addition, he added that 'this crisis will accelerate slow adaptation processes in progress, generating a before and after for some industries. Added to this, a new dynamic will emerge and will enable the birth (or consolidation) of those actors who can respond to the needs of a new country, post coronavirus'.