Program can reduce inland transportation costs for shippers and lengthen produce shelf life. A pilot program of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been expanded to allow South American fruits to be imported through the Port of Jacksonville, Florida. The program, and the inclusion of Jacksonville, is a tribute to advances in shipboard and landside cold treatment technologies, which eliminate the risk of certain pests being allowed into the country along with thet fruit. The original program, initiated in the fall of 2013, allowed imports of cold-treated grapes and blueberries from Peru and Uruguay into ports in Miami Dade and Broward counties in southern Florida. The expanded program now also encompasses citrus from Peru, as well as blueberries, apples and pears from Argentina and includes the Port of Jacksonville as of last October 1. Other Florida ports were admitted into the program at the same time, including Port Tampa and Port Manatee. Imports of South American fruit were previously restricted to entry through northeastern U.S. ports and then trucked to markets in the Southeast. Perishables brought to Jacksonville and other Florida ports will allow consumers in the southeastern U.S. access to fresh produce quicker. The Agriculture Department regulations come to restrict entry into the U.S. of Mediterranean fruit flies, Asian longhorned beetles, and other pests. Under standards set by the USDA, all imported produce must be quarantined and properly processed. The cold treatment process, one of several treatments approved and monitored by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, involves the holding of produce at a set temperature range for a specified time. “The Port of Jacksonville was granted entry into the program,” said Frank Camp, the sales director at the Port of Jacksonville who handles reefer cargo. “That means that effective October 1, fruit coming from Peru, Uruguay, and Argentina, including citrus, blueberries, grapes, apples, and pears were allowed to be entered into the U.S. through the Port of Jacksonville. Previously those cargoes had gone through to ports north of the Delaware River. Anything coming to the Southeast had to go to ports in the Northeast and then get trucked down here. The fact that product can now enter Southeastern ports creates a longer shelf for the fruit and allows shippers lower costs. “The new infrastructure for the mitigation of pests in South American fruit has been developed in the past decade,” Camp added. “Mitigation procedures have improved to the point where agriculture officials are comfortable with allowing fruit requiring cold treatment into the Southeast.” Moving through southern ports like Jacksonville will also mitigate delays caused by severe winter weather in the north. “Tremendous volumes of fruit go to ports like Philadelphia, New York, and Wilmington,” said Camp. “That is how it has always been done regardless of the inland costs to the shipper. The winter weather can be terrible up north and that can push back box inspections back and create large delays.” Perishable cargoes are an important part of the cargo mix the Port of Jacksonville handles. “We are strong in the Puerto Rico trade and trade with other Caribbean islands,” said Camp. “Just about every kind of perishable cargo moves through this port.” During the fiscal year that ended September 30, Jacksonville handled 800,000 tons of temperature controlled cargo, split between perishable and frozen product, which included large volumes of poultry exported to South Africa, imports of seafood from the Caribbean, and exports of Florida citrus globally. In another development, Beaver Street Fisheries, Inc., a Jacksonville-based importer of seafood, became one of the first suppliers to be awarded the USDA’s COOL Supplier Certification. COOL is a labeling law that requires retailers to notify their customers regarding the source of certain foods. “This certificate shows Beaver Street Fisheries as having system-wide COOL compliance protocols, and is one of the first companies to gain certification through the new COOL Supplier Certification Pilot Program,” said Leonard Gossen of the USDA COOL Division. As standard practice at BSF, the country of origin and method of production are noted on each COOL-covered item’s master shipping container and primary pre-labeled consumer package. BSF retains all of the records pertaining to these items indefinitely, which helped BSF earn its certification. The infrastructure for handling South American fruit was already in place when the Department of Agriculture gave Jacksonville the green light to handle those cargoes. “We have 2,000 reefer plugs on the Port,” said Camp. “We have truckers with refrigerated vehicles and warehouses that handle cold products. We just need the vessels carrying the cargo to start calling on the Port.” Of greater concern to Camp is that Customs and Border Protection personnel stationed in Jacksonville be given the proper training in the new Department of Agriculture regulations so as not to delay the entry of the cold-treated fruit when they come. Jacksonville hasn’t seen much in the way of South American fruit just yet—the program started only on October 1—but Camp expects the business to pick up as 2016 progresses. “October 1 was very late to get into the grape and blueberry seasons out of Peru and Uruguay,” he said. “We expect to see apples, pears, and citrus from South America beginning in the second quarter of next year. We’re taking baby steps. The first step is to show the fruit shipping community what we are capable of handling their produce and inform them of the advantages of moving through the Port of Jacksonville.” Camp’s aim is for Jacksonville to the Florida market as well as all of the Southeast United States with South American fruit. “The south Florida ports are 300 miles further south,” he said. “When they come to Jacksonville they can better serve the whole of the Florida market but also the greater southeast market as well. It can sometimes take a week to get product off the terminal in northern ports. You’re talking about a saving of ten to 14 days moving the product through the Port of Jacksonville, all of which provides lower inland transportation costs and longer shelf life for the product.”