The Port of Wilmington, Delaware welcomed this year's first shipment of Chilean winter fruit onboard Pacific Seaways' specialized reefer vessel, m/v Prince of Tides, on December 13. Wilmington, Delaware is the nation's leading marine terminal for imports of refrigerated cargoes and the number one port on the Delaware for Chilean fruit imports. Last season nearly 190,000 pallets of Chilean fruit with retail value of more than one billion dollars moved across the port's docks.
Favorable growing conditions in the Chile and the addition of new shippers to the Pacific Seaways cooperative portend a busy season with increased volumes of delicious and healthy Chilean fruit arriving from the Chilean ports of Valparaiso, Coquimbo and Caldera. Over 40 ships with approximately 200,000 pallets 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 kiwi fruit will begin in April and continue arriving at the port through June.
Many of Chile's largest fruit shippers will inspect and store their imports in the Port's 800,000 sq. ft. of temperature-controlled warehouse space; the largest dockside refrigerated warehouse complex in the US. From Wilmington, their fruit will be distributed by refrigerated trucks and sold throughout the US East coast, mid-west and Canadian markets.
