Dole shipping service increases capacity of bananas, pineapples, tropicals
Dole Food Co. launched a new weekly vessel service that will call the Northeast United States that started Dec. 31, 2023. The expanded service will increase capacity of tropical fresh fruits, including Dole branded bananas, pineapples, dragon fruit, mangos and limes coming to the U.S. from Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala into the port of Wilmington, DE.
The service will deploy two 1,200 FEU container vessels, MV Robin-2, and MV Robin-5 in a 14-day rotation, with one of these vessels making weekly ports of call in Santa Marta, Colombia, Puerto Castilla, Honduras, and a new port of service in Puerto Barrios, Guatemala before landing in Wilmington each Saturday.
Both additional vessels entering the expanded service will allow for optimum freshness of the fruit through increased sourcing options, discharges and port rationalization. These vessels allow for increased fuel efficiency of our service derived from slow speed operation.
All other existing Dole shipping services will be unchanged.
Dole Ocean Cargo Express, the company’s commercial marine transportation service, is also utilizing these vessels with the introduction of the Mayan Express Service between the Northeast U.S. and Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The new service will expand ocean network coverage providing an additional alternative to North Central America to and from the port of Wilmington.
“Dole is excited to expand our service level into the Northeast, bringing even more fresh tropical fruit to market,” said Nelson Montoya, president of Dole Fresh Fruit North America. “Both existing and future Dole customers can be equally excited at this growth in our service as we continue our journey to make the world a healthier place.”