It is 7,000 miles from Mexico to Japan via the United States, a mere 15 hours of flight time, and Arturo Hernández Campos, chief mango pamperer, wants to be certain his fruit makes it to Japanese dining tables free of pests and blemishes.

Fulfilling this double-mandate underlies the market niche established by Mr. Hernandez, 58, whose twin businesses based in Mexico City employ two dozen and for 14 years has assured Japanese customers the best of a Mexican crop.

The first of the two obligations to be met byArturo Hernandez Campos (right), founder of Greensky Service SA de CV and sister company Hecart International, speaking with a mango packer. Greensky Service SA de CV, the logistics company founded in 1998, and sister company, Hecart, founded in 1996, is the most essential.

U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that mangos passing through the United States be immersed in 115 degree (46.1 centigrade) water for 90 minutes, a treatment that assures no fruit fly will find its way in to the United States, but a process that also weakens the fruit.

To meet this need, Mr. Hernandez consulted with USDA and created a custom net applied after the hot water treatment that essentially seals the shipment but still allows it to breathe. Thereafter, the fruit, more fragile, must be protected and "dressed" for shipment to Japan.

That is when the caps -- stretch filament vests -- are placed atop each piece of fruit where they protect against both external blows and internal movement. The cost of protecting each mango is between five and six cents, meaning that a box of will cost about 57 cents.

Initially, Mr. Hernandez manufactured caps at his own facility just north of Mexico City and had as many as 40 employees. "It was too much of a headache," he recalled.

Then, he investigated and wound up importing from Prodex Co. in Costa Rica. After a new round of tweaking, he brought cap production back to his plant.

The nets, handled by Hecart, contain a base of foam made of polythene -- made in different densities -- that is flexible and recyclable. The foam absorbs and reduces crashes and vibrations that might potentially scar the fruit. In addition to mangos, the nets are also made for papaya, apples and starfruit.

How Mr. Hernandez, who has been in the freight-forwarding business since 1982, became a guardian of mangos sent to Japan is the story of happenstance, unusual opportunities, hunches, analysis and language. It starts in 1978 on the beaches of La Paz, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta.

That is where a young Mr. Hernandez, who had studied hotel administration, was living when his mother called to tell him that his father had died.

"I had to return because my mother was alone in Mexico City," he recalled. "I spoke a little English and so I asked for a job in Mexicana Airlines. I was a ticket agent and had my first job at a counter in Mexico City mall. I sold tickets and excursions, and my boss told me, after a few years, 'Arturo, you are pretty good at sales, why don't you apply for contact?'"

A half-dozen people took the exam to become a "contact," Mr. Hernandez recalled. "To my surprise, I was the only one who got it and the only reason I did, I'm convinced, was the English. New management at Mexicana decided a second language was important. I knew nothing about the business, but had a couple of great bosses teaching me everything."

What he thought was going to be a contact for ticket sales was, in fact, for a cargo position, and that was the start of a sojourn through the export business that would carry him into cargo jobs with Korean Airlines and Nippon Cargo Airlines, into the import-export business with a partner in Los Angeles, and, while he was making ends meet, a job in the Los Angeles area "translating" Spanish in text books from Spain and Latin America to a Spanish better understood by Mexican children attending school in the United States. He also hooked up with Atlas Van Lines, which gave him hands-on experience in moving diplomats and learning even more about air cargo.

What he saw was one neglected part of the business: perishables.

"It wasn't interesting to others," Mr. Hernandez recalled, "because the revenues were small and inconsistent. This was a time when Mexico was flying computer parts and silver to Korea, leather cowboy boots to France and doing some spot produce, but nothing was systematic."

That is when many of Mr. Hernandez's worlds merged. A prominent Japanese businessman in Mexico City, Kozo Nakahara, who was already sending mangos back home, became a friend, mentor and client. Mr. Hernandez realized that one of the impediments to a thriving export market was the absence of caps, so he began a quest that would bring the ideal cap for a sized 9-10 mango to Mexico.

"I was a witness of the problem that the importers of fruit caps were having," he said. "The Japanese don't do orders in advance. The season starts in February and they let you know 15 days before how many orders of mangos they'll want. That's a time when exporters and packers went crazy to get all the fruit caps."

When Mr. Hernández began, only the Japanese were producing the caps, but they were not ideal for the Mexican mango. He attended plastics fairs and, at last, came across the Costa Rican company.

"The caps were not that good at first," he said, "but they were better than mine, so I started to import them."

How some 18- to 20-skids go weekly to Japanese customers is a study in modern efficiency, Mr. Hernández said.

"The manager of a mango orchard will say, 'OK, the fruit is going to be ready next week and we need to cut,'" he said. "Let's say this is a Wednesday and the flight is on Sunday night. They start cutting and work Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and then send the trucks from their production areas to Mexico City.

"It's incredible, they are like circus guys," he continued. "They go carrying the box into the branches, cut the mango with scissors, place them into the box and then manage to bring the box, filled, to the ground. Then, they delicately take it to the truck and to the packing plants."

The mangos are sent to Mexico City where they await shipment that night. "It's five days from tree to arrival," Mr. Hernández said, and then the fruit is good for another eight to 10 days, depending on temperatures and other conditions in Japan."

Greensky has some 30 clients at the moment, including the following Mexican companies: Frutas Reales; Empaque Don Jorge; Compañía Cosmo; Exotimex S.A. de C.V.; Tierra Caliente; ASERCA; Fresh Cargo; Corporativo Flores Paraiso; Comercializadora Nopalitoz; Promecasa; Grupo Fruticola Mariz; URASE; Litchies San Petrino; Guillermo Arroyo; VBM Guimarra; Bery Verry; Berries Paradise; Growers Union; and Sunny Ridge. The company hopes to add Cancun and Guadalajara locations.

GreenSky also makes caps for apples sold at convenience stores including Oxxo, the 10,000-store behemoth based in Monterrey, whose presence throughout the entire country dwarfs the sums operated by competitors. Greensky does not subcontract.

The operation, like many Mexican companies, is a family affair. Mr. Hernandez's son, Diego, is second in command. His wife, Angeles, controls the skids net mesh production. Alfredo Campos, a cousin, works in accounting. Carlos Gil, an in-law, is a supervisor of quality control at the plant, as is Dennis Gil, the in-law's daughter; Eduardo Hernandez, a nephew, is a machine operator. And Lourdes, a niece, and Rocio Hernandez, another niece, are packers

The company was to be featured on National Geographic's Cargas Imposibles, a six-part series dealing with shipping that aired air Oct. 11. The program was to originally look at the shipments of horses, berries and flowers from Chile, but while the film crew was in Mexico in March, it learned of the methods used to ship mangos and limes abroad and decided to include that in one of its six segments.