Wilmington, Delaware Is welcoming a Bountiful Chilean Season
with the Arrival of M/V Supreme Harvest

The Port of Wilmington will welcome Delaware’s first shipment of Chilean winter fruit with the arrival of M/V Supreme Harvest on Monday, December 16^th. Wilmington, Delaware, is the nation’s leading gateway for imports of fruits and produce, and one of the major ports to receive Chilean fruit. Port officials anticipate a productive and busy season with increased volumes of Chilean grapes and other deciduous fruits via weekly vessel calls through the end of April.

Wilmington is the preferred port-of-call for some of Chile’s largest fruit importers and shipping groups, including the Pacific Seaways Group, and Dole Fresh Fruit Co.  During the 2002 season, Wilmington handled 150,000 tons of winter fruit.  This season, Wilmington expects the arrival of refrigerated ships carrying nearly 200,000 tons of Chilean fruits and vegetables from the Ports of Valparaiso, Coquimbo and Caldera.

The increased shipments of Chilean fruit through Wilmington are associated with two factors; Chile’s favorable growing season this year and the addition of a new shipper. Chilean farmers enjoyed fair weather and bountiful harvest throughout the country this year, which produced a larger crop of fruit for export. In addition, ProFruit, a importer of Chilean fruit since 1998 through ports of Philadelphia and Gloucester NJ, has established an operations office and a distribution center at the Port and will deliver 2/3 of its Chilean cargo through Wilmington. 

During the two-day discharge, the M/V Supreme Harvest will unload nearly 4000 tons of Chilean table grapes, plums, nectarines, apricots, peaches, and cherries.  The fruit and produce will be stored at the Port’s state-of-the-art on dock cold storage facilities prior to distribution to supermarkets and retail outlets throughout the United States and Eastern Canada.

This season, the movement of all Chilean fruit entering the Port will be tracked by utilizing a bar code band inventory control systems and cargo dispatch E-Port and E-Load created by the Port’s Technology Solutions Department. E-Port, inventory control system, supported by a wireless communications network which links all docks and warehouses, allows the Port’s customers around the world to trace the location of their cargo in real-time from loading in Chile to dispatch from the Port. Customers will benefit from E-Loads, a real-time electronic communication program, to manage the precise distribution of cargo from the Port of Wilmington’s warehouses to the market. 

The Port of Wilmington specializes in the handling of fruit and produce. In addition to Chilean winter fruit, the Port receives over one million tons per year of bananas and tropical fruits from Central and South America, imported by Dole Fresh Fruit and Chiquita Fresh, the nation’s two largest banana suppliers.  Other fruit imports shipped include New Zealand apples, pears and kiwifruit and Moroccan Clementines. 

Founded in 1923, the Port of Wilmington is an important asset for the local and regional economy, generating more than 5,800 jobs and contributing over $22 million in annual tax revenues to State and local government.  The Port is owned and operated by the Diamond State Port Corporation, a corporation of the State of Delaware.  For further information, digital photos, free tours of the Port and free speakers contact:  Vered Nohi-Becker, Marketing Services Manager at the Port of Wilmington @ (302) 472-7819, e-mail: vnbecker@port.state.de.us