New Jersey distributors count on Customized Brokers for smooth sailing entry into U.S.
New Jersey distributors count on Customized Brokers for smooth sailing entry into U.S.
Nelly Yunta is vice president of sales, marketing and customer care, liner and logistics business groups for Crowley Maritime Corp., headquartered in Jacksonville, FL. Customized Brokers is the Miami-based division of Crowley Maritime.
Yunta said that the company is involved with numerous New Jersey distributors because they bring a great deal of produce in from South and Central America.
“Some of the products that are coming into the U.S. move year-round, while others are seasonal,” Yunta pointed out. “Currently, Customized Brokers is clearing bananas, plantains, pineapples and peppers on a regular basis. Products are sourced from different parts of the world, so when a season ends for one country, we continue clearing a product but from a different country. We are also now clearing a good number of grapes, apples, tomatoes, asparagus and papaya, among other products.”
In early February, Crowley Maritime Corp. and Customized Brokers announced the opening of a new cold-storage warehouse facility located in Miami.
The facility, known as CrowleyFresh, features multiple humidity- and temperature-controlled coolers. It is open around the clock to store and handle perishables imported from or exported to Latin America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia and the Far East. The state-of-the-art facility is ideal for perishable storage or may be used as an in-transit consolidation or deconsolidation point.
“The operation is moving along nicely,” said Yunta. “CrowleyFresh is handling a variety of fruits and vegetables. We also handled flowers during the two heaviest weeks of the year for flowers: Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. And we have handled products that move inland to points north of Florida. We receive requests almost every day for new products and new inland destinations that we can service with our Crowley trucking division.”
Yunta also noted that Crowley Maritime Corp. recently acquired Florida-based Carib Energy.
“This is a total gas solution company, which has entered us into the liquefied natural gas, or LNG market,” she said.
“The company’s focus on the LNG market will span several of the business lines and help reduce energy consumption.”
