OHL business is ‘all good’
OHL business is ‘all good’
PHILADELPHIA — “We are doing really well. Here, it’s all good,” said Edward Fitzgerald, senior director of import operations for OHL International. “2014 was a very profitable year.
“We have expanded in our push for the group to handle new commodities like vegetables,” he said.
On the export side, Christopher Ryan, OHL’s business development manager for perishables, said the Philadelphia office is work on developing business to the United Kingdom from the U.S. East Coast. The firm is also developing export loads out of Seattle and Tacoma, WA, with apples for the Far East. “We hope it will keep going, with all the U.S. apples going to China, with that market opening,” he said.
Fitzgerald said the Moroccan oranges and Spanish lemons are increased OHL business, in addition to clementines from those two countries. OHL handles this fruit in both the ports of Philadelphia and New York.
OHL is involved in handling customs matters for fruit from many other countries.
Fitzgerald, who is the treasurer of Ship Philly First, said that volunteer promotional group has “been very effective as a business community for getting more ocean services to the port of Philadelphia.”
The group works with shipping lines such as Maersk and its sister company SeaLand, Hamburg Süd, and MOL, which shares vessels with APL.
Over the last year Ship Philly First has focused on creating a direct connection between Philadelphia and the port of Veracruz, Mexico. “I am excited about” this possibility, he said. “It will provide another trade line for cargo from southern Mexico to the U.S. and also an opportunity for developing U.S. exports from the Delaware Valley to Mexico.”
The maritime connection “is a different mode of transportation. It is price comparable and the timeliness is very competitive to the trucking mode. Some ocean carriers have service from Mexico, through Panama, Cartagena (Colombia) from the west coast of South America and Oceania.” Those connecting services are 15-19 days while a direct link from Veracruz would be five to seven days.
Fitzgerald said there are exports in line for this business and shippers and terminals are ready. “We need a carrier from A to B” as the missing link to finalize the Veracruz route.
