Logistics group Damco has announced that it is now offering specialised cross-docking services for bananas in the free-trade zone of Zona Pacifico in Guayaquil, the main commercial port of Ecuador.
The service is designed to benefit both exporters and the banana industry as a whole, with banana boxes stuffed straight into the container without being discharged to the ground – the first facility of its kind in the country.
Exporters can therefore reduce the non-refrigerated time of the bananas, which in turn helps increase shelf life and significantly improves fruit quality.
According to Martin Romer, Damco's global head of business development for reefer logistics, the group assumes full responsibility for the bananas as soon as they arrive, offering an independent quality control even before container stuffing to ensure that only the fruit meeting quality criteria is shipped.
Immediately after stuffing, Damco updates its IT system, allowing customers full visibility of the entire supply chain, Mr Romer said.
'Grower-exporters and retailers who use our facility will get access to a one-stop shop which handles all aspects of logistics, from stuffing to delivery at the final destination,' he added. 'The operation is a perfect fit into our 'Damco Fresh Produce Direct; programme, which is an end-to-end logistics solution for grower-exporters of fresh produce delivering directly to wholesalers and retailers around the world.'
Other services offered by Damco include the provision of phytosanitary certificates, insurance customs brokerage, payment of port expenses, installation and monitoring of temperature recorders, ethylene filters, trucking containers to farms and competitive ocean freight rates with multiple carriers.
Banana containerisation in Ecuador has increased significantly, more than doubling from 50,000 40ft containers per year in 2006 to an anticipated 122,000 containers this year, but local infrastructure has not kept pace, leading to services being performed in non-optimal logistics conditions.
