GT USA Wilmington Welcomes the Everest Bay with the Maiden Call of a New Summer Fruit Service
Wilmington, DE. – GT USA Wilmington (GTW) has recently received its first ever shipment of summer fruit into the Port of Wilmington, Delaware from the West Coast of South America. The citrus fruits were delivered from Valparaiso, Chile to the Port by Capt. D. A. Dela Rosa, the Master of the M/V EVEREST BAY, a refrigerated cargo ship
The 2200 pallets of new cargo were brought through the Port of Wilmington by Partners, Seatrade and Global Reefers and is heading to supermarket shelves throughout the United States. Operations went well with ILA Labor partners doing a great job in unloading the cargo in a safe and productive manner. The new fortnightly service will operate through October.
Voicing his delight at the commencement of the new service, Cedric Dehez, CEO of Global Reefers said, “This service reinforces the commitment of Global reefers and Seatrade to satisfy the need of our customers with dedicated specialized vessels.”
GT USA Wilmington senior management Joe Cruise, CEO, Mike Hall, COO and Robert Blackburn, VP Commercial were on hand to welcome the vessel and celebrate the occasion by presenting a maiden call plaque to Capt. D. A. Dela Rosa.
“We are pleased to mark the start of this new service to Wilmington, it is the start of GTW securing year-round fruits not only from South America, but other origins a well. The Port has a long Partnership with Global Reefers and Seatrade and are thrilled to embark on this new service with them. The success we have had in bringing this service to Wilmington is due in large part to our relationship with our Partners, International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA), US Department of Agriculture, US Customs and Border Protection, and the many Expeditors that operate at the Port of Wilmington. It’s great to see everyone working together for overall success of the Port,” said Joe Cruise, CEO GT USA Wilmington.
The Port of Wilmington is one of the United States’ primary gateways for fresh fruits. It’s 2021-2022 winter fruit season was highly successful with imports of South American and Moroccan produce rising over 140% on the previous season’s figures. The Port of Wilmington, which is Safe Quality Food (SQF) certified has worked hard to put itself in a good position to take advantage of new business from all over the world. The work has been rewarded with an increase in throughput of many types of cargoes. The Port’s berths and terminal remain uncongested, unlike many ports along the east and west coasts, and has available berths, warehouse space, terminal space and know how to handle even more cargoes.