PortMiami is set to receive its first shipment of cold-treated grapes from Peru on 1 December, part of a new six-month Cold Treatment Pilot Programme allowing cold treated produce to be imported directly from Peru and Chile to the port.
The project, spearheaded by Nelly Yunta of Crowley Maritime corporate and the Florida Perishables Trade Coalition, aims to allow the necessary cold treatment for fruits from both South American countries to be carried out in southern Florida, as we as ports north of latitude 39. In the past, Peruvian and Chilean fruit arrivals could only enter the US via certain northeastern ports.
Under the new pilot, grapes travelling to markets in Florida can be offloaded directly in Miami, increasing their shelf-life, reducing trucking costs and lowering the carbon footprint of the product.
The first container of table grapes will have been cold treated prior to its departure from Peru and will arrive for immediate distribution and sales. Several more shipments are already en route.
Last month, PortMiami director designee Juan Kuryla travelled to Peru with some of the port’s stakeholders to promote the new pilot programme alongside Erick Aponte, head of the Miami Office of the Trade Commission of Peru.
