Posts Tagged “Port of Wilmington”
The Port of Wilmington, DE, received its first shipment of fresh Moroccan citrus in early December for the 2022-23 winter fruit season.
The first arrival was on the M/V Crown Garnet, a specialized refrigerated vessel. The Crown Garnet immediately discharged her cargo, which exceeded 5,000 pallets of fresh clementines, according to a press release.
During this winter fruit season, which will run through May 2023, the port anticipates receiving approximately 12 shiploads of fruit from Morocco’s Atlantic port of Agadir.
Joe Cruise, chief executive officer of GT USA Wilmington, was on hand to welcome the vessel and “We are privileged to be able to continue as the port of choice to serve our Moroccan partners for the timely distribution of fresh and delicious fruit to U.S. and Canadian consumers. We are looking forward to assisting our partners with another successful season.”
In the release, GT USA Wilmington describes itself as the “U.S.’ foremost marine terminal for perishable cargo.” Wilmington ranks as North America’s top banana port.
Wilmington is a major port of entry and distribution center for the seasonal importation of fresh Moroccan citrus, along with other fruits and juices from around the globe.
Cargo is stored in the Port’s 850,000 square foot on-dock refrigerated warehouse complex, one of North America’s largest facilities, before distribution to markets throughout North America.
The Port of Wilmington (DE) is situated where the Delaware and Christina Rivers meet, about 60 miles from the Atlantic Ocean on the East Coast. It is operated by the state-owned Diamond Port Corp.
The port annually produces $436 million in business revenue; and $409 million in personal income for the state and the region. It’s responsible for 5,900 jobs and generates $41 million in annual taxes.
It handles about 400 vessels annually with an import/export cargo tonnage of more than 6 million tons. The Port of Wilmington is the United States’ leading port for imports of fresh fruit, produce, and juice concentrate, and it is the world’s largest port handling bananas. In fact, it handles more than 200,000 TEUs carrying fresh fruits and concentrates each year.
During the winter, the Port of Wilmington receives table grapes, peaches, plums, applies, nectarines, pears, and other fruits from Chile. In the spring, fresh apples, pears, and kiwifruit arrive from New Zealand and Chile. In the fall, Moroccan clementines arrive.
Wilmington is located at the heart of the East Coast, just minutes from major highways, providing shippers with overnight access to major markets.
Because of its location, the port plays a vital role for produce companies throughout the East Coast, providing quick and easy access to a huge consumer market.
The owners of the port are looking to expand, with plans in motion of redeveloping the Chemours Edgemoor industrial site in Edgemoor, DE as a shipping container site with Gulftainer. The state has granted permits to allow for a 112-foot wide by 2,600-foot long wharf to be built, along with dredging the berth and access channel 45 feet below mean low water, and installing 3,200 feet of bulkhead along the shoreline.
This will allow a facility to hold a capacity for 1.2 million container slots, with upward of 4,000 plus being refrigerated.
Expansion is needed because the port is doing record business and seeing more ships come in than ever before.
Manfredi Cold Storage of which of Kennett Square, PA and Pedricktown, NJ, reports the Port of Wilmington experienced an increase in cargo moving through the past two years.
The North Carolina State Port Authority has received a $16 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to help pay for upgrades to triple the Port of Wilmington’s container capacity.
The USDOT’s Maritime Administration’s grant will support development of a new container gate complex at the port, according to a news release.
The overall project is part of a five-year, $200 million container expansion plan. The current container gate (channel for container trucks transporting cargo) isn’t adequate for forecasted container volumes, but when the expansion is complete, it will more than triple the container capacity. Inbound and outbound lanes for trucks are increasing, and a container operations building will be constructed.
The $16-million-grant is the largest single grant awarded to North Carolina ports yet, Brian Clark, chief operating officer.
“Improving the container gate has long been part of our infrastructure improvements plan at the Port of Wilmington,” he said. “We recognized early on the need for a more modern gate. Our terminal in Wilmington is known for its fast truck turn times and this modern complex will help us maintain the speed our customers expect.”
The project includes a new truck gate interchange with technology to improve safety and efficiency, according to the release.
The Port of Wilmington, Delaware last week received the first fresh fruit of the winter season for the United States, for distribution throughout the East Coast of the U.S. and Canada.
The fruit arrived on The Pacific Mermaid, a refrigerated vessel operated by Trans Global Shipping N.V. of the Global Reefers service. The boat’s cargo had nearly 618,500 boxes of fresh cherries, blueberries, apricots, peaches, nectarines and table grapes.
This was the sixth consecutive year Delaware has received the initial break bulk shipment of Chilean winter fruit, not only on the Delaware River, but in the U.S. The Port of Wilmington expects this season to receive at least two dozen more shiploads of fruit from the Chilean ports of Valparaiso, Coquimbo and Caldera.
Over 50 percent of the Chilean fruit sent to U.S. markets travels through Delaware River ports, with Chile becoming Wilmington’s largest refrigerated storage customer during the Southern Hemisphere growing season.
Last season, the port handled over 18.65 million boxes of Chilean fruit, a 10 percent increase over the 2013-2014 season.
More than 2,000 people work at the port and more than 750 jobs are tied to the Chilean fruit trade, which generates about $40 million in personal income for those involved and $4 million in tax revenue.
If you like hauling bananas out of the Port of Wilmington (Del), The Diamond State Port Corp., and Chiquita Brands have agreed that Chiquita will continue to use the complex as its mid-Atlantic distribution hub for the next five years.
The agreement includes two five-year renewal options, which could extend Chiquita’s stay at Wilmington until 2029, according to a news release.
Chiquita’s business means Wilmington will continue to handle more bananas than any other port in North America.
In 1988, Chiquita consolidated mid-Atlantic supply chain operations to Wilmington, which is now its largest port operation in North America.
Chiquita brings bananas, pineapples and other tropical fruits and vegetables into North America through the port from Central America.
“We are extremely pleased that Chiquita has decided to sign a new lease with the port and continue our long and fruitful relationship,” Gene Bailey, executive director of Diamond State, said in the release. “Chiquita is a most important customer and responsible for hundreds of jobs and … significant economic impact to our port, state and region.”
“The Port of Wilmington is an important destination for Chiquita and our customers,” Mario Pacheco, Chiquita’s senior vice president of global logistics, said in the release. “We are pleased that we have reached an agreement that will enable us to continue to call Wilmington home for many years to come.”