First Chile season vessel positions at Packer Avenue Marine Terminal

The NYKCool vessel M/V Belgian Reefer called at the Port of Philadelphia’s Packer Avenue Marine Terminal to begin its first journey south for Chilean fruit service for the 2013-2014 season. The Belgian Reefer is part of the global fleet of one of the largest conventional specialized refrigerated carriers in the world, NYKCool of Stockholm, Sweden. The vessel is now loaded with empty refrigerated containers bound for Chile, where it will take on a full load of cargo and containers after the twelve day voyage south. Upon its return to the Delaware River, the Belgian Reefer will be carrying fresh Chilean fruit for distribution throughout the United States and Canada. Chile ships over 50 million cases of fruit through the Delaware River gateway each year, and NYKCool has maintained continuous high quality service to the Delaware River for over thirty years. “The first journey south marks the unofficial start of the Chilean winter fruit season for the Port of Philadelphia,” said Leo A Holt, President of Holt Logistics Corp. “Upon return to Philadelphia, the Belgian Reefer will unload a bounty of fresh fruit, including table grapes, blueberries, peaches, cherries, nectarines and other produce, that is a staple of the winter fruit season. This partnership with NYKCool has yielded over four decades of employment for thousands of longshoreman, teamsters and other workers, and we are eager to begin another year of quality and expedient service.” The NYKCool service is part of the 360 Quality Partnership, a global food safety initiative spearheaded by the specialized refrigerated carriers.