For the third consecutive year, the Port of Wilmington (North Carolina) has been the first USA port to receive winter Chilean fruit. It arrived December 17 onboard a chartered refrigerated breakbulk vessel m/v Polarstream.
Wilmington ranks first in the USA with marine terminals for imports of perishable cargoes. It also is a major port of entry and distribution center for Chilean fruit.
The Port of Wilmington is one of the main gateways in the East Coast for shipments of Chilean fresh fruit for distribution as far north as Canada and westerward to the Mississippi River.
Chile’s harvest period in the Southern Hemisphere between late November and April complements the production of fresh produce in North America. The boat that arrived at Wilmington delivered nearly 6,600 pallets of table grapes, blueberries, cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums.
During the 2011-12 shipping season The Port of Wilmington handled 15.9 million cases of Chilean fruit. The cargo was stored in the port’s 800,000 square-foot on-dock cold-store, North America’s largest.
Granted, this is not a lot of Chilean fruit arriving on this first boat as it is early in that South American country’s season. In the weeks ahead vessels will be arriving on a more frequent basis. By mid to late January there will be good volume of Chilean fruit arriving at Wilmington, plus Long Beach, CA and other ports.