WDS swiftly links Mexican produce with Port Manatee, U.S. consumers

WDS swiftly links Mexican produce with Port Manatee, U.S. consumers

Eschewing traditional cross-border trucking, World Direct Shipping’s weekly sailings between the Mexican state of Veracruz and Port Manatee on Florida’s Gulf Coast are providing a fresh approach with a timely, cost-effective means to get produce imports to the tables of U.S. consumers. Having unfailingly completed its first year of operation with 2 1/2-day transits across the Gulf of Mexico, the WDS service is proving that water routings can furnish a favorable alternative to a land transportation model that is often bogged down by warehousing, rehandling and border-related delays. “We’re changing the whole dynamics with something new and innovative,” said Carlos Diaz, a former Major League ballplayer and CP Ships executive who now serves as co-commercial director of World Direct Shipping. “They’ve got great produce in Southern Mexico, and now we’ve attached this product to the U.S. market. We’re past the one-year mark and haven’t missed one call.” The WDS service, for which refrigerated cargos have accounted for about 70 percent of imports in the first year, is now growing its export volume and is deploying a right-sized containership to succeed the Falmouth in plying Gulf waters between the Port of Coatzacoalcos and Port Manatee. The replacement vessel, which has a capacity of 400 twenty-foot-equivalent container units and 120 refrigerated cargo plugs, offers greater energy efficiency, including ability to smoothly transition to low-sulfur fuel when entering U.S. emissions control area waters. And, according to Nate Tooley, the other co-commercial director of WDS, the fledgling line is looking to further expand its success beyond its impending deployment of this containership in the Coatzacoalcos-Port Manatee lane. “Fast roundtrip transit times, competitive pricing, higher payloads and consistent on-time performance have all contributed to our success in year one,” Tooley said. “We look forward to continuing to develop two-way cargo in our current port rotation, as well as adding more strategic ports of call and new vessels in the future.” The WDS concept emerged from a vision of the family of Robert and Barbara Blazer, operators since 1977 of the Dekalb Farmers Market in Decatur, Ga., which has grown into an Atlanta area icon for fresh produce and which is currently being enlarged more than 1 million square feet. While some of the fruits and vegetables that arrive at Port Manatee via the WDS service are dispatched via refrigerated trailers to the Atlanta suburban farmers market, regular shipments also head well into the Midwest and Northeast, with key destinations including Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. WDS provides supply chain integrity by being responsible for door-to-door movement. Goods arriving at Port Manatee from Mexico include limes, avocados, pineapples, mangos, papayas, malangas, cocoa, melons and juice concentrates, as well as such commodities as sugar, natural mineral additives and wood products. Return trips to Mexico typically carry paper and recycled materials and have transported such cargos as heavy machinery, spare parts and tractors. Oversized cargo can be accommodated with use of flatracks. Using ship’s gear, Federal Marine Terminals Inc. handles moving cargo off and on the WDS vessel at Port Manatee and, according to Carl Blodgett, FMT’s general manager at Port Manatee, FMT has added seven new full-time employees since the service began. “World Direct Shipping is a unique group, and we’re just glad to be chosen as their stevedore and terminal operator,” Blodgett said. “It’s opened up a new trade lane for the port, and Mexico hopefully will continue to be a very strong trading partner for us here.” Each week, the WDS vessel leaves Coatzacoalcos late Saturday, arriving Tuesday morning at Port Manatee, which is situated near the entrance to Tampa Bay. The ship then departs Port Manatee early Tuesday evening, arriving at Coatzacoalcos on Friday. World Direct Shipping’s Diaz, who made it to the American League in 1990 as a catcher for the Toronto Blue Jays and whose subsequent shipping industry career has included nearly a decade calling signals for the global refrigerated cargo business of CP Ships, said he has been pleased with the capabilities of the ports at each end of the service. “They’re both very flexible and personalized,” Diaz said. “Port Manatee has been a great partner in helping us to grow. In Coatzacoalcos, they are new to the container business, so we’ve been able to design our own container terminal there with our own equipment.” Coatzacoalcos is located about 190 miles southeast of the much larger Port of Veracruz and is in close proximity to produce growing areas. Port Manatee’s executive director, Carlos Buqueras, said he has been delighted with the WDS service, which was largely responsible for the 83 percent increase in the port’s containerized cargo volume for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 compared with the preceding 12-month period. WDS joins longtime tenant Fresh Del Monte Produce, which brings imports from Central America, as Port Manatee’s leading container carriers. “We are very pleased with the successful launch of the World Direct Shipping service last November, and their growth over the past year shows great promise for the future,” Buqueras said.