Posts Tagged “Port Manatee”
U.S. cranberry shipments are expected to be up slightly in 2016 with loadings beginning in early September. Meanwhile, expect imported bananas and pineapples from Port Manatee to be available for decades.
About 8.59 million barrels are expected to ship this year, up from 8.56 million barrels in 2015 and 8.4 million barrels in 2014, according to an annual cranberry report from the USDA.
Industry leader Wisconsin should ship about 5.2 million barrels, up from 4.9 million barrels last year. With the exception of some isolated hail damage, the growing weather in Wisconsin has been excellent this year.
Production in the No. 2 state, Massachusetts, should fall, from 2.4 million barrels in 2015 to 2.1 million barrels this year — due in part to drought in the state.
Production in New Jersey (which is mostly processed), Oregon and Washington also should be down from last year.
Del Monte, Port Manatee Agreement
Port Manatee of Palmetto, FL and Del Monte Fresh Produce NA Inc. has signed an agreement to keep its importing operations at the Port for up to 20 more years, which goes through August 2021.
The lease includes options for three additional extensions of five years each, according to a news release. If Del Monte uses all options, the grower-shipper and importer could be importing fruit at the central Florida port until at least 2036.
Del Monte,has imported fruit at the port since 1989 and handles weekly refrigerated vessels containing containers and pallets of Central American bananas and pineapples.
For exports, Del Monte ships linerboard used in packaging and also handles other third-party containers and project cargos.
“We are very pleased to continue our relationship with Port Manatee,” Brian Giuliani, Del Monte’s Port Manatee-based port manager, said in the release. “The cooperation with Port Manatee is exceptional and has been vital to the growth of our business at Port Manatee.”
Del Monte has moved 8.7 million short tons of cargo through the port since 1989.
“Extension of Port Manatee’s long-term partnership with Del Monte demonstrates the mutual commitment on the part of our port and a most-valued tenant,” Betsy Benac, the port authority’s chairwoman, said in the release.
Del Monte’s Southeast distribution center at the port has become the company’s second-largest U.S. facility.
The Tampa (FL) Port Authority plans to construct a refrigerated warehouse, which apparently touched off a battle between another Tampa Bay port over which one would dominate the fruit importing business.
The TPA plans to invest $20.8 million in a cold storage and transload facility at the port of Tampa Bay.
The warehouse would mark the port’s return to the fruit importing business and is viewed as competition by neighboring Port Manatee in Palmetto, FL.
Port Manatee officials expressed concern that the other port would try to dominate fruit handling after the authority voted to authorize construction funding.
The port’s projects to deliver goods directly from ship to market and would include a 50-60 car capacity rail siding that could help the port better serve Midwest customers.
“Port Tampa Bay has the unmatched capacity to build unit trains,” a PTA spokesman said. “Part of the port’s overall growth strategy is to be able to serve shippers in the state of Florida with alternative, cost-efficient transportation solutions, so that they will not have to use out-of-state ports for their shipments.”
The port handles approximately 8 million tons of containerized cargo each year with tropical fruits and vegetables among its biggest items, according to port information.
The port’s 207,000 square feet of refrigerated space is used by Coral Gables, Fla.-based Del Monte Fresh Produce NA Inc., and Fresh Quest Produce Inc., in Plantation, Fla.
Responsible for handing nearly a third of all cargo moving in and out of Florida, the Tampa port port’s yearly 36 million net tons of volume is dominated by dry and liquid bulk items.
At 521,825 million net tons, general and containerized cargo accounts for less than 2% of its business.
Fresh produce is involved in a new service at a Florida port ranging from avocados to bananas, limes mangos and pineapples.
Port Manatee, located at Palmetto, FL is starting a two-way service with Mexico that includes fresh fruits and vegetables. The Port of Coatzacoalcos in the southern part of Mexico is involved in the new service, which got underway several weeks ago.
The calls at the port are scheduled to be carried out by the continer ship Falmouth, which has a nominal capacity of 862 TEUs, or 20-foot equvilent container units and is equipped with 204 plugs to provide power to refrigerated containers. The service is being promoted as the quickest short sea connection from Mexico to the United States Southeast, Northeast and Mid-west.
“Port Manatee’s proximity to Mexico is ideal for this service, said Carlos Diaz, the line’s business director. “This new fast connection will offer reduced costs and enhanced delivery of fresher product to consumers east of the Mississippi.”
Port Manatee bills itself as the largest capacity port on Florida’s west coast. Institution of the service builds upon the port’s history of successfully handling refrigerated products and its cross Gulf proximity to Mexico.