|
Wilmington,
Delaware
Welcomes its First Chilean Fruit Vessel |
|
Wilmington, DE - The Port of Wilmington welcomes Delaware’s first shipment of Chilean winter fruit with the arrival of M/V Supreme Harvest on Monday, December 16th. Wilmington, Delaware is the nation’s leading gateway for imports of fruit and produce, and one of the major ports to receive Chilean fruit. Port officials anticipate a 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 many of Chile’s largest fruit exporters and shipping groups, including Pacific Seaways, 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 Chilean 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 new shippers. Chilean farmers enjoyed fair weather and anticipated a bountiful harvest throughout the country this year, producing a larger crop of fruit for export. New exporters are coming to Wilmington because of its quality reputation and excellent distribution location. 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 for distribution to supermarkets and retail outlets throughout the United States and Eastern Canada. This season all Chilean fruit entering the Port will be tracked utilizing E-Port and E-Loads, bar code based inventory control and cargo dispatch systems created by First State Innovation (FSI), the Diamond State Port Corporation’s (DSPC) Technology Solutions Department. E-Port, an inventory control system, supported by a wireless communications network that links all Wilmington’s docks and warehouses, allows Port customers around the world to trace the location of their cargo in real-time from loading in Chile to dispatch from the Port. By utilizing E-Loads importers and buyers are able, via web-based cargo loading instructions, to manage the precise loadout and distribution of cargo from the Port of Wilmington’s refrigerated 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 by The Oppenheimer Group and Moroccan Clementines by Dominion Citrus Limited. 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 |
