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Chiquita
Fresh Signs a 3-Year Contract |
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Wilmington, Delaware - Chiquita Fresh North America has signed a new 3-year agreement with the Diamond State Port Corporation (DSPC) to extend its lease agreement with the Port of Wilmington through 2005, and includes an option to continue at the Port through 2007. Chiquita has been a customer and tenant of the Port of Wilmington since 1988, and regularly imports over 500,000 tons of bananas a year. |
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Receiving 40% of Chiquita’s bananas and fruit imports discharged in the U.S., the Port of Wilmington is Chiquita’s largest port of discharge on the U.S. East Coast. The Port’s close proximity to interstate highway systems of I-95 and I-295 enables Chiquita to provide advantageous over-night delivery to one third of the U.S. consumer market. From Wilmington, Chiquita distributes its bananas as far north as the Maritime Provinces in Canada, as far west as Chicago, and south into the Carolinas. The new lease provides Chiquita with 27.5 acres for its container and distribution operations at the Port. The Chiquita facility can accommodate 826 containers, is equipped with 328 reefer points, provides office space for its 21 employees, and includes an eleven-bay maintenance shop, and a TIR gate with an inspection station. Recently, the Port completed a crane rail extension project which now enables Chiquita to use the Port’s container crane C4 along with ship’s gear to efficiently discharge and load their vessels. “The extension of the crane rail is another value added service the Port of Wilmington provides us, which will enhance our discharge and will give our vessels greater flexibility in their operations”, said Frank Vignuli, Chiquita Fresh North America Port Manager at the Port of Wilmington. The Great White Fleet (GWF), Chiquita’s reefer shipping line, operates 3 vessels which are on a weekly service from Central America to the Port of Wilmington. M/V Edyth L, M/V Frances L, and M/V Courtney L call at the Port on alternating weeks and discharge an average of 450 containers of bananas and other tropical fruit. From Wilmington, these vessels call directly at Puerto Cortes, Honduras, Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, and Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, to load its cargo. Additionally, service to El Salvador, Nicaragua and to Almirante, on the east side of Panama is provided by Chiquita’s in-house trucking company. Murphy Marine Services, Inc. is the stevedoring company that loads and discharges the Chiquita Fresh vessels at the Port. According to Mark Murphy, president of Murphy Marine, Chiquita’s overall container business in Wilmington creates over 100,000 man-hours per year of work of the International Longshoremen Association laborers he hires. “We are very pleased with the great cooperation we have enjoyed from the Port of Wilmington and the excellent stevedoring services by Murphy Marine”, noted Vignuli. “We congratulate Chiquita Fresh for signing the new lease agreement”, said R. Adam McBride, executive director for DSPC. “Chiquita has been a long time friend and a loyal customer of the Port of Wilmington, and a vital part of the Port’s perishable cargo business and total revenue”, he added. Chiquita’s cargo accounts for 10% of Wilmington’s total annual volume, and has contributed to the Port’s status as the Number One port for imported bananas in the U.S. McBride added, “we are grateful to Chiquita for helping us to retain our status as “Top Banana” in this very competitive reefer trade”. 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 |
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