Heavy snow strands hundreds of truck drivers at Argentina-Chile border

Heavy snow stranded hundreds of truck drivers near the Argentina-Chile border on July 23 and forced authorities to keep the Cristo Redentor pass closed while they checked whether the road could reopen safely. The mountain crossing, also called Paso de los Libertadores and the Libertadores international crossing, is the most commonly used border route between the two countries and links Mendoza with Los Andes and Chile’s Valparaíso Region.

The pass handles food, fuel, industrial cargo and other goods that have to move steadily across the border, so a shutdown can delay deliveries, unset production schedules and push costs higher for exporters and importers on both sides of the Andes. Argentine border authorities list the crossing as a high-altitude route at Villa Las Cuevas and Los Andes, with winter operating hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on the Argentine side and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Chile.

In July 2022, the main mountain pass between Chile and Argentina reopened after a heavy snowfall had forced it shut for about two days. That same storm stranded about 200 people, mostly tourists and truckers, in the Andes near the border, with another 120 waiting on the Chilean side. Earlier, in 2007, heavy snow in the Andes left 6,100 trucks stuck along the same main mountain pass.

Severe snowstorms and unstable mountain conditions in June 2025 repeatedly disrupted the corridor, and Kuehne+Nagel’s myKN logistics site puts the number at more than 700 trucks stranded during one mid-June shutdown.