North Carolina Ports to receive tropical fruit from Latin America

North Carolina Ports will receive its first shipment of bananas and pineapple on Sealand’s NAE (North Atlantic Express) inaugural call to the Port of Wilmington. 

Dole Fresh Fruit Co., will provide a weekly inbound shipment of committed produce from Costa Rica to the Port of Wilmington, with this first to arrive on June 23, 2021, on Sealand’s M/V HSL Sheffield. This movement of these products through North Carolina Ports highlights the Ports’ continual positive momentum – especially on the cold chain front. 

“The addition of Dole products through the Port of Wilmington is another indication of services expanding to match our growing capital investments,” said Brian Clark, Executive Director, North Carolina Ports. “This new partnership also speaks to the confidence our customers have in us to bring them added value.” 

In conjunction with this new service, North Carolina Ports is in construction of Phase 1 of a new on-dock refrigerated “chiller” capacity for fresh product. This roughly 8,000 square-foot temperature- and humidity-controlled warehouse space is set to open in July 2021. North Carolina Ports is attracting more fresh produce trade flows, bringing supply closer to demand to the benefit of North Carolina’s grocery sector and ultimately North Carolina consumers. 

As North Carolina Ports continues to grow its refrigerated (“reefer”) cargo services and has seen record volumes over the last few months, the addition of these fresh products from Costa Rica is another indicator of recent success. North Carolina Ports is projected to finish its FY21 above budget for container moves and it will really see the impact of the new Sealand service in the first quarter of FY22. 

“We have seen significant cold chain demand over the last year from exporters and importers looking to keep their products moving fast,” said Hans Bean, Chief Commercial Officer, North Carolina Ports. “Domestic fresh produce consumption has really taken off and is predicted to continue. That combined with strong North Carolina protein and produce exports make this a perfect import-export match for ocean carriers looking to optimize refrigerated container equipment flows. Major supply chains are starting to realize the potential of using North Carolina Ports’ expanding Wilmington cold gateway, which is well on its way to becoming the next great cold cargo port.” 

Last April, North Carolina Ports opened its expanded refrigerated container yard as a strategic component of its capital improvement plan. This project boosted the number of fixed plugs on port to 775 in Phase 1, which led to a record of 1,459 reefer moves in April 2020. North Carolina Ports is working toward Phase 2 of this project, expanding total fixed plugs on the port to 1,200. This phase is in the design stage and has a target completion date of late 2022.