By Karen E. Thuermer, AJOTCompetition is heightening among those involved in perishables and the cold chain trade. While seaports worldwide are vying for their share of the business, some seaports operate the business like a fine oiled machine. One such port is the Port of Wilmington in Delaware. Perhaps that’s why Wilmington has retained its status as North America’s No. 1 seaport for imported perishables, largest U.S. seaport for bananas (second in the world) and the nation’s leading port for fruit concentrates. In comparing Calendar Year 2012 to 2011, port officials state that all categories have shown growth year-over-year. Thomas Keefer, Deputy Executive Director of Diamond State Port Corporation (DSPC), which owns and operates the deepwater port, attributes these increases to good weather for growers and modestly improving economy where people have more disposal income to purchase fresh fruit. The fact that ships for companies like Chiquita Fresh North America, Dole Fresh Fruit Company and others call the port for their perishables business is testament to Wilmington’s customer service, operations, facilities and skilled labor. Dole may maintain facilities at four other North American ports, but its Wilmington operation is more than double the size of its others. Chiquita, itself, is growing its own business by introducing larger containerships on the service to Wilmington from Central America. Ships operated by both Dole and Chiquita arrive the port weekly. The only other port-of-call they make on the East Coast northbound is Port Everglades. “After they leave us, they go back down to Central America,” Keefer states. On the backhaul, the ships carry export items such as kraft linerboard used for making boxes, an assortment of general cargo, even used automobiles are shipped southbound. “We work closely with Dole and Chiquita to provide labor in support of their warehouse requirements,” Keefer explains. “Our role is to partner with them to create a favorable and competitive operational environment that enables these world-class companies to grow their north and southbound business. Both companies lease land at the port on which they operate their own terminals. All totaled, the business encompasses some 1.5 million tons of containerized perishables. Breakbulk Business The port also handles a great deal of breakbulk perishables. This includes grapes and stone fruit from Chile, apples and pears from Argentina, and Clementines from Morocco. Wilmington also handles juice concentrates on an ongoing basis. These come primarily from Brazil and Argentina, but also Costa Rica and Belize.
Chilean fruit discharged at the Port of Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo: Vered Nohi-Becker/Port of Wilmington, DE)
Moroccan clementines scanned at the Port of Wilmington, Delaware’s refrigerated warehouse. (Photo: Vered Nohi-Becker/Port of Wilmington, DE)
Citrosuco North America (CNA), part of the Fisher Group based in Brazil, is a long-time port tenant that operates a fleet of four specialized tanker vessels that call Wilmington to discharge orange juice and other juices. Citrosuco, which merged with Citrovia recently, is the largest producer of orange juice in the world. The company, built North America’s largest refrigerated bulk juice storage terminal at the Port. This bulk juice terminal allows CNA to store orange juice in concentrated form as well as a fresh form known in the trade as “not from concentrate” (NFC). “When the product arrives it is discharged into their terminal state of the art storage tanks where it is stored, blended and then loaded in food grade stainless steel tank trucks,” Keefer explains. Citrosuco, which operates its main orange juice terminal in Santos, Brazil, and other terminals in Ghent, Belgium, and Toyohashi, Japan, ha