That answer is yes, if the Florida Perishables Trade Coalition (FPTC) and others in the South Florida community have their way. The FPTC is a non-profit association formed in January 2012 to focus the collective experience and efforts of industry leaders from throughout the state to increase trade in perishable products through Florida’s airports and seaports. It formally organized to expand upon the work of and support the efforts of an informal trade coalition, which had identified and worked on these issues over several years. The Coalition’s key initiative is the Cold Treatment project to bring importation and distribution of the multi-million-dollar trade in perishable products to Florida ports – the handling of which federal law currently prohibits. After careful planning and education, a new, six-month pilot program launched in October 2013, coinciding with the growing season and signaling a change that could potentially bring millions of dollars’ worth of business to South Florida while also making fresh fruits more readily available. Specifically, this pilot program allows for grapes and blueberries from Peru and Uruguay. Traditionally, these type cargoes have entered the U.S. through seaports with cooler climates – those along the North Atlantic seaboard. They then have to be trucked southward in order to get to southern grocery stores and markets. The working theory of FPTC is that by having them enter the country in south Florida, they avoid an entire leg of their trip, reducing transportation costs and carbon footprinting while increasing shelf life and freshness, seemingly a win-win for everyone. According to the Broward County board of county commissioners, a container traveling from Peru would reach Port Everglades in only 15 days, as opposed to the 21-day journey to Philadelphia, saving thousands of dollars per container and removing thousands of trucks from the highways. These savings could eventually be passed on to the consumer. Shortly after the program launched, the first shipment arrived in South Florida from Camposol in Peru aboard a Hamburg Süd ship. The initial shipment was successfully cleared upon arrival by Advance Customs Brokers & Consulting (ACBC). In order to comply with USDA’s parameters, Hamburg Süd transshipped its first container in Panama to allow it to complete its two-week cold treatment process and be cleared for unloading before arriving at Port Everglades. “Hamburg Süd is proud to have been selected to carry the first refrigerated cargo load of fresh Peruvian grapes to Florida. With our state-of-the-art refrigerated cargo containers and our fixed-day of the week liner service between Peru and Port Everglades, we are uniquely positioned to cater to this exciting new business. Port Everglades is the first U.S. port of call for our South American West Coast/United States service and we are looking forward to serving the South Florida fresh produce import community,” said Juergen Pump, senior vice president, Hamburg Süd North America. According to Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., the firm that acts as general counsel to the coalition, the pilot is a success with a total of 14-shipments clearing PortMiami and Port Everglades, all from Peru and all grapes. Pat Compres, president of ACBC had a similar assessment of the program saying, “The imports from Peru of cold treated cargo into South Florida have gone without a glitch. It has been very successful, and we hope that USDA will expand that program to other products.” These new shipments are undoubtedly starting small until blossoming to their full potential once the system becomes a science. The fruits must be safeguarded against the introduction of pests into an environment that makes a healthy living off its own perishables production. The grapes and blueberries must be shipped in new or completely clean containers equipped with temperature sensors, surrounded by insect-proof nets, and kept for about two weeks at near-freezing temperatures in a process called cold treatment. The cold treatment must begin with pre-cooling either dockside or aboard the vessel then refrigerated at acceptable temperatures for the duration of transit. In a written statement from Sandler Travis & Rosenberg, Tiffany Martinez, National Litigation Support Manager and Certified Paralegal said, “The main difference between entering into Florida ports and the Northern ports is the requirement to complete and pass cold treatment prior to arrival. If cold treatment is not completed or fails for any reason, the container will not come off of the vessel and will proceed up to Northern ports or be re-exported.” South Florida already is a major hub for other perishable imports, including fish, fruits and vegetables from Central America, and fresh cut flowers. Ideally this permission of blueberries and grapes is a further extension of the success already experienced. Upon completion of the pilot program, the FPTC intends to ask USDA to expand the program to include: apples, additional berries, varietal citrus, cherries, kiwis, persimmons, quinces, plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plum cot, citron and loquat. Additionally, they will ask that the South American country list be expanded to include: Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia; and that South Africa and Spain be introduced as well - a decision that Martinez says is expected to be announced in March. “At the end of the season, being able to see the success of the same, then the importers and shippers will feel more confident and we are sure that the numbers of imports for the following season will exceed our expectations,” said Compres. “Again, we need to thank the Port of Miami and the Perishable Coalition, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Customs & Border Protection for working together in order to make this a reality, which we are sure will open the doors for other countries and products to be admissible under the cold treatment protocol.” “This is one of the best opportunities for new business that Florida ports have seen in years. The economics are compelling and the timing is also right, and this pilot program is one step towards changing the paradigm of North-South perishables shipping to the benefit of Port Everglades and our customers,” said Michael Vanderbeek, Port Everglades Director of Business Development. “Support for the Coalition and its efforts are growing. Industry leaders across every stage of the supply chain are represented in the Coalition and the success of the pilot has drawn increased interest from growers to retailers,” said Martinez.