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dynamism that the global economy demanded. He predicted to Ricardo that, sooner or
later, the port system would have to modernize, and there were no private local
companies to help the port administrators find services and resources to maintain their
heavy-duty equipment. Ricardo had heard that the Chilean authorities were willing to
privatize the main Chilean ports under long-term concession agreements, and that the
government would invite domestic and foreign private companies to take over port
management. This work would be done via a new law affecting ports. Miguel’s
reaction to this news was, “This is an opportunity that someone should definitely
prepare for!”
As chief maintenance officer at Agunsa, Miguel was familiar with the entire
marketplace of heavy-duty equipment, and he had worked with several global providers.
Gottwald Port Technology, a German company, was the main provider of equipment
and spare parts for Agunsa because of the high quality of its products and services.
Miguel knew Heinz Hinrichs, the sales director at Gottwald, and Andreas Moeller, the
sales director for the Americas, who were interested in increasing their sales
representatives around the globe.
Gottwald Port Technology, based in Düsseldorf, Germany, was the world’s leading
supplier of mobile harbor cranes (HMK series). The company produced a
comprehensive range of HMK cranes with lifting capacities of up to 120 tons and a
radius of up to 56 meters, in addition to rail-mounted portal harbor cranes (HSK series).
Gottwald also offered services for terminal operators, from conceptual design and
operational layout, to basic engineering of equipment and systems, to automated guided
vehicles (AGV) and automated container stackers (ACS). The company had a
workforce of around 700 employees in Düsseldorf at the time, and the profit for fiscal
year 1999 was around $200 million.
In the course of his work, Miguel often supervised projects to upgrade and modernize
the equipment and logistical processes at Agunsa. He worked with Rolando Ramos,
who was in charge of the planning and control of logistics and operations. Rolando had
a degree in business administration, and he was known at Agunsa as a methodical and
organized professional who was good at strategic planning and management. Because of
their complementary skills, he and Miguel were a successful team.
The Asian Crisis
While Miguel was working at Agunsa, the Asian Crisis started in Thailand in 1997 and
quickly spread to Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, the
Philippines, and Indonesia (see Exhibit 3).
The effects of the Asian Crisis were felt in Latin America starting in October 1997,
when Asia’s currency devaluations started pressuring other markets, which in turn
transformed a regional drama into a broader crisis of emerging economies. Latin
America was affected through two main channels: finance and trade. As a result, Latin
American trade balances with Asia deteriorated. The price of essential goods like
copper and petroleum—the primary Latin American exports—declined significantly in
1997 due, in no small measure, to the reduction of the Asian demand. Chile was
especially exposed because 38.12 percent of its exports were to Asia (see Exhibit 4).
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