Wilmington's port set to receive 20 million boxes of Chilean fruit
Wilmington's port set to receive 20 million boxes of Chilean fruit
WILMINGTON, DE -- Twenty million boxes of Chilean fruit will be received through the port of Wilmington this season, according to Thomas Keefer, the port's deputy executive director.
The port's Chilean deliveries come from the steamship line Pacific Seaways, which carries breakbulk, palletized fruit for a variety of exporters. Joining the Pacific Seaways shipping cooperative this year is Dole Deciduous, based in Philadelphia.
Pacific Seaways will bring about 200,000 pallets to Wilmington from Chile this season. This is 14,000 pallets more than a year ago.
Mr. Keefer expects to be receiving Chilean grapes until April 20, when the USDA marketing order goes into effect to seasonally end imports in deference to Coachella, CA, grower-shippers. The Coachella shippers have asked the USDA to change the last day allowing certain Chilean grapes to April 1. Mr. Keefer expects that, if such changes come, it would probably not affect this season.
Mr. Keefer said that Wilmington has turned away a query for receiving more international fruit business because the port is so busy in the heat of the Chilean season.
Chilean fruit arrives on Pacific Seaways from the Chilean ports of Valparaiso, Coquimbo and Caldera. Over 40 ships will call at the port from December through June carrying primarily table grapes, plums, nectarines, apricots, peaches, cherries, kiwi and other deciduous fruit. Apples, pears and kiwifruit will begin in April and continue arriving at the port through June.
On Dec. 13, the Prince of Tides became the season's first ship of the 2006-07 Chilean fruit program, discharging a cargo of Chilean grapes, berries and stone fruit at the port of Wilmington. This winter port officials anticipate that about 200,000 tons of Chilean fruit will be discharged in Wilmington and distributed throughout the East Coast, Midwest and Canadian markets.
According to Wilmington representatives, the seaport is the leading marine terminal and distribution center for Chilean fruit imports and also ranks as the No. 1 port in the United States for entry of fresh fruit and refrigerated cargo.
Mr. Keefer said that the port of Wilmington "is in good shape" entering a new Chilean fruit season. He said the warehouses had been cleaned and those floors and been restriped to help forklift operators. Furthermore, "new lighting is ready to roll for the new season."
Many of Chile's larger fruit shippers will inspect and store their imports in the Port's 800,000 square feet of temperature-controlled warehouse space; one of the larger dockside refrigerated warehouse complexes in the United States. Mr. Keefer said that all Chilean fruit bound for Wilmington is bar-coded. There is an electronic data transfer to Wilmington from Chile, "which enables our team to lay out space. We know what hatch and deck" contains each customer's fruit. When the fruit is stored, it is automatically scanned and as it leaves Wilmington warehouses it is scanned again. The terminal and warehouse have 60 antennae to broadcast wireless information so customers can immediately know the status of their products.
"Our goal is to have as much of a paperless environment as we can," Mr. Keefer said.
In addition to the Chilean deal, between October 2006 and March 2007 the port of Wilmington will be distributing 35,000 pallets of Moroccan clementines, exported by Fresh Fruit Maroc. Mr. Keefer said that the majority of that volume will be to receivers in Toronto and Montreal. For the first time Fresh Fruit Maroc has a small marketing program in the United States. "Its volumes have grown, so it now has sufficient volume to meet the demands of its Canadian customers, and to develop the U.S. market," he said.
The clementines for the U.S. market are cold-treated to suit phytosanitary regulations.
This is the seventh season the Moroccan company has shipped to Canada via Wilmington. The fruit actually arriving in Port Newark, N.J., aboard Maersk container ships. The containers are then shipped to Wilmington for distribution. The fruit is shipped to Wilmington as a quality-control measure for Fresh Fruit Maroc, according to Mr. Keefer. The port has all the personnel and facilities to help the exporter assure its own quality standards.
"The emphasis on quality has been a brand advantage for Fresh Fruit Maroc," he said. "Its sales have gone up as a result. Its customers know there is someone looking carefully at the fruit. This sets off clementine demand and gives Fresh Fruit Maroc a better rate of return for the growers. The growers want to ship through Fresh Fruit Maroc, then they tell other growers."
Fresh Fruit Maroc's volume is up 25 percent this year over that of a year ago. Last year it jumped 50 percent over the previous year.
U.S. sales for the company will be less then 10 percent of the North American share.
(For more on the Chilean deal, see the Jan. 15 issue of The Produce News.)
The port's Chilean deliveries come from the steamship line Pacific Seaways, which carries breakbulk, palletized fruit for a variety of exporters. Joining the Pacific Seaways shipping cooperative this year is Dole Deciduous, based in Philadelphia.
Pacific Seaways will bring about 200,000 pallets to Wilmington from Chile this season. This is 14,000 pallets more than a year ago.
Mr. Keefer expects to be receiving Chilean grapes until April 20, when the USDA marketing order goes into effect to seasonally end imports in deference to Coachella, CA, grower-shippers. The Coachella shippers have asked the USDA to change the last day allowing certain Chilean grapes to April 1. Mr. Keefer expects that, if such changes come, it would probably not affect this season.
Mr. Keefer said that Wilmington has turned away a query for receiving more international fruit business because the port is so busy in the heat of the Chilean season.
Chilean fruit arrives on Pacific Seaways from the Chilean ports of Valparaiso, Coquimbo and Caldera. Over 40 ships will call at the port from December through June carrying primarily table grapes, plums, nectarines, apricots, peaches, cherries, kiwi and other deciduous fruit. Apples, pears and kiwifruit will begin in April and continue arriving at the port through June.
On Dec. 13, the Prince of Tides became the season's first ship of the 2006-07 Chilean fruit program, discharging a cargo of Chilean grapes, berries and stone fruit at the port of Wilmington. This winter port officials anticipate that about 200,000 tons of Chilean fruit will be discharged in Wilmington and distributed throughout the East Coast, Midwest and Canadian markets.
According to Wilmington representatives, the seaport is the leading marine terminal and distribution center for Chilean fruit imports and also ranks as the No. 1 port in the United States for entry of fresh fruit and refrigerated cargo.
Mr. Keefer said that the port of Wilmington "is in good shape" entering a new Chilean fruit season. He said the warehouses had been cleaned and those floors and been restriped to help forklift operators. Furthermore, "new lighting is ready to roll for the new season."
Many of Chile's larger fruit shippers will inspect and store their imports in the Port's 800,000 square feet of temperature-controlled warehouse space; one of the larger dockside refrigerated warehouse complexes in the United States. Mr. Keefer said that all Chilean fruit bound for Wilmington is bar-coded. There is an electronic data transfer to Wilmington from Chile, "which enables our team to lay out space. We know what hatch and deck" contains each customer's fruit. When the fruit is stored, it is automatically scanned and as it leaves Wilmington warehouses it is scanned again. The terminal and warehouse have 60 antennae to broadcast wireless information so customers can immediately know the status of their products.
"Our goal is to have as much of a paperless environment as we can," Mr. Keefer said.
In addition to the Chilean deal, between October 2006 and March 2007 the port of Wilmington will be distributing 35,000 pallets of Moroccan clementines, exported by Fresh Fruit Maroc. Mr. Keefer said that the majority of that volume will be to receivers in Toronto and Montreal. For the first time Fresh Fruit Maroc has a small marketing program in the United States. "Its volumes have grown, so it now has sufficient volume to meet the demands of its Canadian customers, and to develop the U.S. market," he said.
The clementines for the U.S. market are cold-treated to suit phytosanitary regulations.
This is the seventh season the Moroccan company has shipped to Canada via Wilmington. The fruit actually arriving in Port Newark, N.J., aboard Maersk container ships. The containers are then shipped to Wilmington for distribution. The fruit is shipped to Wilmington as a quality-control measure for Fresh Fruit Maroc, according to Mr. Keefer. The port has all the personnel and facilities to help the exporter assure its own quality standards.
"The emphasis on quality has been a brand advantage for Fresh Fruit Maroc," he said. "Its sales have gone up as a result. Its customers know there is someone looking carefully at the fruit. This sets off clementine demand and gives Fresh Fruit Maroc a better rate of return for the growers. The growers want to ship through Fresh Fruit Maroc, then they tell other growers."
Fresh Fruit Maroc's volume is up 25 percent this year over that of a year ago. Last year it jumped 50 percent over the previous year.
U.S. sales for the company will be less then 10 percent of the North American share.
(For more on the Chilean deal, see the Jan. 15 issue of The Produce News.)
