Del Monte Fresh Produce (DMFP) has opened its first wholly-owned banana ripening depot. The new 55,000 square foot state-of-the-art depot in Boston, Lincs, has 21 ripening rooms with 840 banana pallet capacity and operates on a five-day ripening cycle.
Space has been allocated for further expansion of an additional 21 ripening rooms which would create a total capacity of 1,680 pallets, positioning the Boston depot as one of the largest ripening centres in the UK.
"Del Monte have shown further commitment to the UK by investing in a ripening facility in Boston which is the first wholly owned facility. Del Monte is also the only banana importer to have invested in new facilities as well as upgrading their older facilities in the last two years, said Bill Hoey, commercial director, Tropical.
Meanwhile, the DMFP fresh cut fruit factory in Wisbech has undergone a major expansion to cope with existing and future sales demand.
The expansion aims to increase efficiency and has doubled the operating space for both high and low risk packing areas.
The facility handles; melons, Del Monte Gold Pineapple, apples, grapes, mango, kiwi, citrus fruit and strawberries from Brazil, Costa Rica, Spain, Chile, New Zealand, France, the US, South Africa and England.
The expanded facility includes:
• A new raw material chiller with three temperature regimes to ensure optimum fruit temperatures can be maintained
• a new loading dock, ensuring efficient management of the chill chain from goods inwards to dispatch
• a work-in-progress chiller for holding the prepared fruit prior to final packaging and
• new facilities for the staff
"Fresh cut fruit is amongst the fastest growing areas in the fresh produce market. This expansion enables us to provide our customers with quantities of produce to meet their growing demand, prepared in the most modern and up-to-date facilities," said Ed Rowland, general manager of Del Monte’s Wisbech site.
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