Largest Shipment in December Received at Port of Wilmington
The season’s shipment of Chilean winter fruit arrived at the Port of Wilmington post-holiday on December 27. The shipment, brought by a refrigerated vessel known as the Star Best, contained over 676,000 boxes of fresh table grapes, peaches, nectarines, apricots, and plums, adding to the 12,550,000 boxes of Chilean fruit during the 2017-18 season.
“We are grateful to Wilmington for our longstanding trade relationship that has meant market and logistics stability for us as well as our customers. We are looking forward to another great Chilean season, together with the State of Delaware, the City of Wilmington, and GT USA Wilmington,” commented Harold Cohen, Global Reefers’ Port Captain/USA Representative.
The 6,000 ton shipment marks the largest volume to be shipped to the U.S. for the month of December. Trans Global Shipping NV in the Global Reefers service led the Star Best operations to the port.
“We are thrilled to support, in a meaningful way, the commercial interests of our partners and customers in providing the U.S. and Canadian consumer with the freshest available fruit for the new year,” said Eric Casey, CEO of GT USA Wilmington.
About Global Reefers
In October 2013, Seatrade, the world largest specialized refrigerated ship owner/operator as well as leader in specialized reefer logistics, and Pacific Seaways, Chile’s most important shipping group created and managed by fruit growers and exporters, joined forces to establish Global Reefers NV. Global Reefers was created to offer the industry the most efficient specialized reefer and container liner service from Chile to the world. Pacific Seaways and Seatrade have had business relationships spanning over 20 years. The new company, based in Valparaíso, Chile strengthens their common goal of ensuring “reliable, fast, direct and dedicated reefer shipping logistics towards the future.”
GT USA is the U.S. division of Gulftainer, the world’s largest privately-owned independent port operator and logistics company with operations and business interests in the Middle East, the Mediterranean, Brazil and the United States. GT’s presence in North America expanded in 2018 with the signing of a 50-year concession agreement with the state of Delaware to manage and operate the Port of Wilmington, a deep-water port and marine terminal serving the Eastern Seaboard. The company’s first venture into the U.S. came in 2014 with the signing of a 35-year agreement to operate Canaveral Cargo Terminal, a multi-purpose cargo and container terminal in Florida. For more information, visit www.gulftainer.com/US
Source: Port of Wilmington
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