PLRS powered by Titan Cold welcomes Dole Fresh Fruit to its port terminal cold storage facility at Port Tampa Bay

The state-of-the-art operation specializes in fresh produce, proteins, and other perishables

PLRS Powered by Titan Cold welcomes Dole Fresh Fruit to its state-of-the art, 135,000-square-foot facility situated in Port Tampa Bay at Hooker’s Point. Dole Fresh Fruit will include the Port Tampa Bay location in a new containerized service operating between Central America and the U.S. Gulf, beginning in mid-July of this year.

The new venture, as part of their Gulf Express Service, will deliver fresh fruit and other cargo, including automobiles, from Honduras and Guatemala to Port Tampa Bay and the cities of Gulfport, Miss. and Freeport, Texas.

PLRS Titan Cold will provide warehousing, terminal, stevedoring, and distribution services to Dole Fresh Fruit. The temperature-controlled warehouse includes refrigerated and frozen rooms, and an onsite Customs office, and specializes in handling large volumes of fresh produce, proteins, and other perishable food and beverage commodities. The facility also provides 148 reefer plugs, fumigation services, ripening rooms, and stevedoring services with the use of two high-speed Gottwald cranes. It is one of the only facilities with a Radiation Portal Monitor (RPM) onsite.

According to Titan Cold Vice President Carel Els, “We offer Dole – and all of our customers – the most modern processes for safely handling and efficiently delivering perishable goods to key U.S. markets. Our Tampa facility provides a critical link in serving central Florida and the entire Southeast.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Dole Fresh Fruit. Our location gives Dole easy access to grow in the Tampa/Orlando and other Southeastern markets with the I-4 corridor playing a key role, which is Florida’s largest and fastest-growing market, and reaching well beyond. This is a great achievement for Port Tampa Bay and the City of Tampa, and we look forward to a long-term partnership with Dole,” said Dick Corbett of Port Logistics Refrigerated Services.

Two ships built in 2021, the MV Dole Maya and MV Dole Aztec, will service the route, and have been constructed to meet strict environmental mandates and substantially reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions.

Port Tampa Bay is Florida’s largest and most diversified port, handling a wide variety of bulk, breakbulk, and containerized cargoes, as well as being a fuel energy gateway, a major cruise homeport, and a hub for shipbuilding and repair.