Through most of the peak shipping period last year, imported Peruvian asparagus was exposed to a more strict and lengthy fumigation process resulting in delays, increased costs and a degradation of quality.

Nelly YuntaThe old protocol has returned and no one could be happier than Customized Brokers, which handles this service and other custom brokerage services for many importers.

Nelly Yunta, vice president of Customized Brokers, said that last year “we did have an issue with the fumigation process. The [U.S. Department of Agriculture] had extended the fumigation and aeration time and it cut down on the efficiency.”

As a practical matter, she said that every fumigated load required the paying of overtime to the USDA inspector on duty as the extra two hours of fumigation pushed the inspector into the overtime zone. This increased costs and delayed many a shipment, but most importantly it affected the quality of the product. The “new” protocol procedure was rescinded in December and the old protocol was put back in place.

This year, Ms. Yunta expects no issues.

The USDA also helped on the changing of another regulation, allowing for the shipment of two loads per week per importer of non-fumigated asparagus from the port of Miami through the United States and into Canada in a sealed van. Canada does not require fumigation, and this through-shipment protocol was established last year.

Ms. Yunta said that importers were very happy to receive the initial exemption for one load per week per importer and are ecstatic this year to have seen a doubling of that level of allowable shipments to Canada.

For its part, Customized Brokers, which is a Crowley Maritime company and headquartered in Miami, FL, is expanding its operations to help service importers.

Ms. Yunta said that the company has added one employee in Los Angeles to handle expanded business, and is also in the process of adding a cold-storage facility in Miami. She said that will help Customized Brokers offer one-stop shopping for its customers.

She explained that the firm provides customs clearing services and also has a trucking and ocean liner division under the Crowley name. The addition of a cold-storage facility allows the company to add to its suite of services. “Many of our customers have asked us to provide cold-storage services and now we will be able to,” she said. “However, we will continue to work with other commercial cold-storage facilities in the area.”

Customized Brokers currently has importing services in several ports throughout the country, such as New Jersey and Houston, as well as the aforementioned Miami and Los Angeles. In addition, Crowley has separate offices throughout the world. Ms. Yunta said that there are no pending plans to expand Customized Brokers’ reach, but she added, “you never know,” stating that the company will follow the needs of its customers.

Peruvian asparagus is a very important part of the company’s business; Ms. Yunta said that it accounts for about 30 percent of the firm’s tonnage.

She said that the firm continues with a coalition of others to establish a cold-treatment protocol in Miami for the importation of fresh commodities into the United States. Currently, Miami has not been approved as an importation port for specific commodities that require a cold-treatment protocol. Ms. Yunta said that the coalition continues to working with various governmental agencies on this issue and hopes to come up with a solution in the not-so-distant future.