The Port of Savannah, Georgia, has added Peruvian avocados to its expanding portfolio of perishable goods.
“Importing avocados through Savannah was a first for Mission Produce, and for the avocado industry,” said Jose Maldonado, director of global logistics and transportation for Mission Produce. “During the Peruvian season, we brought containers through Savannah to give us quicker access for our customers in the Southeast.”
With farms in the La Libertad region near the city of Chao in Peru, Mission Produce ships avocados to the United States from May through September.
Savannah’s Garden City Terminal offers 94 refrigerated container racks and 733 chassis plug-ins, powering 2,989 refrigerated boxes at a time. Another 10 racks will be complete by the end of 2015, adding 240 slots for perishable goods.
“With 830,000 square feet of private cold storage surrounding the port, and developers planning another 300,000 square feet, we and private industry have the infrastructure to support the growing cold cargo business moving through Georgia,” said Chris Logan, GPA senior director of trade development for beneficial cargo owner sales.
“Because of Georgia’s central location within a large and growing market, combined with anticipated growth in farm output, we’re expecting to move more cargo through Savannah next year,” said Maldonado.
In addition to operations in Peru, Mission Produce ships avocados on a year-round basis from multiple nations, including the United States, Mexico, Chile, and New Zealand.
“Although using the Port of Savannah was a first for Mission Produce, the operation went very smoothly this season,” said Ryan Keogh, FDC operations manager for Mission Produce. “We found GPA’s customer service and support to be extraordinary.”
The GPA moved nearly 140,000 twenty-foot equivalent container units of refrigerated cargo in fiscal year 2015. It anticipates a 4.5% growth rate of refrigerated cargo in the next year.
For more information, go to www.gaports.com.
