When the COVID-19 pandemic struck three years ago, it threw normal business operations at ports for a loop.

Some goods, such as discretionary items, lagged in demand, while others that were deemed necessities saw a spike. Additionally, many ports experienced unprecedented backlogs and delays.

As a result, port operators such as Holt Logistics were forced to adapt to meet consumer preferences and keep goods flowing through as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Stemilt has hired Sarah Burns as its new West Coast merchandising manager. Burns came to Stemilt following her four-year tenure at FreshSource and 13 years working in sales at Earthbound Farm. In her role, she will be building relationships with customers, planning and executing promotions for Stemilt, analyzing retail data and trends to develop strategies to grow fruit sales for the organization and representing Stemilt at industry events.

A social entrepreneurship project and collaboration between Deardorff Family Farms and Food Share has launched to fight hunger in Ventura County, CA.

The Port of Philadelphia (PhilaPort), which is the largest refrigerated port in the United States, continues to grow.

“Philadelphia’s strength is with handling perishable commodities, typically chilled produce out of South and Central America,” said Joseph Fox, marketing manager for PhilaPort.

Pacific Trellis Fruit, the owner of the Dulcinea brand, continues adding strength to build the fundamentals to support the needs of its customers and suppliers in this ever-changing environment that the industry has been experiencing the last few years. Marcial Hernandez Manzano has been promoted to vice president of supply and operations and will lead the sourcing, operations and quality control departments of the Fruit Division, encompassing grapes, cherries, stone fruit and citrus.