OHL’s Perishable Customs Brokerage team in front of its historic headquarters in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. (Photo courtesy of OHL)PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Naval Yard is home to global supply chain management solutions leader OHL, formerly Barthco. The company is one of the larger customs broker in the region and has teams dedicated to air and ocean transportation, trade services and customs brokerage focused on specific industry verticals, including retail, apparel, footwear, chemicals, steel, paper and especially perishables. Ed Fitzgerald, assistant vice president of import operations, has been with OHL for 18 years and manages the perishable customs brokerage team.

“Perishable imports are unique — time is always of the essence, who wants to eat fruits and vegetables that are past their peak? — but are also subject to some of the more stringent government rules and regulations,” said Mr. Fitzgerald. “The FDA, USDA, Customs & Border Protection, and CBP-AG are just a few of the agencies who take an interest in perishable goods entering the country. These rules and regulations are in place to ensure product safety for consumers, to protect our nation from invasive plants, insects and animals, and to protect our own domestically grown produce. Navigating the regulatory processes and the conditional treatments for entry on perishable fruit and vegetables is very complex. Missing or incorrect documentation and delayed or failed treatments can become very expensive and moreover create additional time delays and lost sales on products that have a short shelf life.”

Philadelphia is a gateway for perishable produce. Being ideally situated above the 39th parallel allows year-round perishable imports, and being close to the densely populated Northeast metropolises, the port handles services from many global fruit and vegetable producing regions.

“Consumers enjoy fruits and vegetables year-round, so import and domestic produce seasons complement each other,” he said. “The key for our clients is to have the freshest product available in order to meet the consumer’s demand throughout the year.”

Clementines are a favorite during the fall and early winter months and are imported from Spain and Morocco. During the spring and summer months, these citrus fruits are imported from Chile, Peru and South Africa. Grapes and stone fruit are harvested during the summer months in the United States, but from the fall through spring the nation consumes varieties from Brazil, Chile, Peru and South Africa. Apples and kiwi are a summer treat from New Zealand and Chile, which runs into the fall. South and Central American banana and pineapple vessels sailing to the ports of the Delaware River are a weekly mainstay. OHL helps importers bring these fruits and vegetables to tables year-round.

But more than just navigating the customs entry and traffic clearance process, OHL’s Trade Services consultants work with U.S. importers and their foreign shippers and growers in order to guide them through the greater economic benefits that the U.S. free trade agreements and general systems of preference can provide — government programs aimed at stimulating trade for specific products between countries. OHL’s trade services consultants team is made up of industry experts and former customs officers carrying more than 100 years of combined customs brokerage experience — exactly what is needed to navigate these policies and agreements.

“At the end of the day, it’s a process built on people and relationships,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “And OHL prides itself on the 25-plus years some of its customers have trusted us with their business.”