Crowley Fresh says visits with growers indicate that blueberry imports will be up in the coming season
Crowley Fresh says visits with growers indicate that blueberry imports will be up in the coming season
Eduardo Campos, director of Crowley Fresh in Miami, said that based on recent visits with growers, the company is anticipating an increase in blueberry imports for the coming season.
“Blueberries seem to be growing faster than other fresh produce imports,” said Campos. “We handle blueberries cleared from Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. And from past experience, we expect to see a lot of Argentinean berries-by airfreight into Miami this season.”
Crowley Fresh is a cold storage facility that opened in December 2012.
The company falls under the ownership umbrella of Crowley Maritime, a diversified Jacksonville, FL-based corporation that does about $1.5 billion in annual revenues in shipping, logistics and projection solutions.
Campos explained that the majority of blueberries the company receives at its facility originate in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.
“Once the production season wraps up in Argentina and Uruguay, Chilean blueberry growers will start their harvesting,” he said. “This is seasonal, due to the climate changes within these countries, and the time frames are no different from previous years.
“We receive pre-alerts from the customs brokers that an air shipment or container is arriving to Miami,” Campos continued. “A notification is sent to pick up the product within minutes of the pre-alert.”
He explained that delays associated with receiving product are usually due to U.S. Department of Agriculture or U.S. Food & Drug Administration inspections.
“Once the process is completed, we retrieve the cargo from the port,” added Campos.
He said that berries have a worldwide demand.
“We ship from Asia to the Northeast, the West Coast and even locally [the south Florida region],” he said. “But the highest demand is typically from the Northeast, the New England area.”
Campos said that Crowley Fresh designates a customer service representative to each account.
“Not only do we offer our clients a direct channel of communication, our team is also well versed with cold chain management, food safety, airfreight and trucking brokerage,” he said. “We are a true all-in-one package.”
He noted that Crowley Fresh has implemented a new software inventory system called “CargoWise.”
“With this new inventory system clients are able to view a live status of their orders, receiving and lot activity,” said Campos.
