Recurring Wine FCL Imports: Valparaíso and Cape Town to Riga
Valparaíso / Cape Town → Riga
A Riga-based wine importer brings bottled wine into Latvia by the container load from Chile and South Africa, and Unicore runs the lane: 40'HC bookings on Maersk from Valparaíso and Cape Town, typically ten containers at a time. In 2026, 109 of the 113 boxes were fitted with a thermal insulation liner before sailing, 95 carried a temperature data logger and 85 had desiccants. On arrival Unicore clears the wine as excise goods into the importer's excise warehouse regime. In 2026 to date that has been 25 sea shipments and 113 containers (110 × 40'HC and 3 × 20') from these two origins.
Shipment Facts
The Challenge
Bottled wine is sensitive to heat and to condensation, and a 40' container from the Southern Hemisphere to the Baltic crosses the equator and several climate zones on the way. Left unprotected, the wine can arrive heat-damaged, with damp labels and cartons. The importer also moves volume: ten 40'HC in one booking is normal, so space has to be held with the line for every sailing well before the wine is ready to load. And because wine is an excise good in Latvia, the containers have to go from the port into the excise warehouse regime, with the declarations in order on the day they arrive.
How Unicore Handled It
- Booked 40'HC space with Maersk from Valparaíso and Cape Town under bill-of-lading bookings, typically ten containers per booking from Chile and two to six from South Africa.
- Fitted a thermal insulation liner before loading (109 of 113 containers in 2026), and added a temperature data logger (95) and desiccants (85) where the importer asked, so condensation does not form on the bottles and cartons.
- Prepared the sea freight documentation for each sailing and arranged the container handling at the Port of Riga on arrival.
- Handled the Latvian import clearance for the importer, declaring the wine as excise goods so it enters the excise warehouse regime on arrival.
- When the line rolled one earlier booking to a later sailing, re-booked the containers onto the next departure and updated the documents so the importer knew when the boxes would be in Riga.
The Result
- 25 sea shipments and 113 containers (110 × 40'HC, 3 × 20') of wine from Valparaíso and Cape Town to Riga in 2026 to date.
- 109 of the 113 containers travelled lined, and the 95 that carried a logger gave the importer a temperature record on arrival.
- Booking, documentation, Riga port handling and excise import clearance from one forwarder, on a repeating schedule.
Based on a real Unicore shipment. Customer identity and commercial terms are withheld for confidentiality.