Plan to Ship Fruit to S.D. Port Would Add 40 Jobs

An Eastern steamship agent plans to unload 14 boatloads of Chilean fruit at the Port of San Diego’s 10th Street dock and warehouse between January and April, generating about $250,000 in annual port revenues and permanent jobs for about 40 people as shipments increase.

The import operation could swell to 80 ship arrivals and departures a year by 1988 and include both the import and export of produce and other perishables, according to Harry Holt, president of Holt Cargo Systems Inc., a Gloucester City, N.J., steamship agent. The port now averages about 250 arrivals and departures each year.

During a Tuesday press conference, Holt said he plans to import fruit during California’s winter season, which is the active growing season in Chile.

Holt said he moved his Chilean fruit importing operation to San Diego from Los Angeles and Long Beach because those ports were unable to provide consistent service. Holt also handles import and export operations at ports in Philadelphia and Tampa.

“San Diego was the only port willing to be aggressive to attract new business,” Holt said. “They’re also the only one with first-quality refrigerated space right on the dock terminal.”

Full Assortment

“San Diego is going to be the port of entry on the West Coast for Chilean fresh fruit,” promised Lothar Meier a Chilean fruit exporter. “We will ship a full assortment of almost every fruit that California grows during its season.”

Holt indicated that his company’s growth in San Diego could mirror the explosive growth seen in Philadelphia. Ten years ago, the company handled just 30,000 boxes of Chilean fruit, said Holt, who added that during 1984 the company handled 21 million boxes. The San Diego operation would handle 7 million boxes of fruit during 1986, Holt said.

The shipments of Chilean fruit, including grapes, apples, pears and cherries, will likely be worth $70 million wholesale and $200 million retail, according to Rick Eastes, a spokesman for Granada International, a Visalia, Calif., firm that is handling marketing for the Chilean fruit growers and shippers.

The fruit, grown during Chile’s spring and summer seasons, will be shipped as far east as Chicago and as far north as Canada, Holt said.

Leases Building

Holt has taken a five-year, $250,000 lease on a 200,000-square-foot building at the Unified Port District of San Diego’s 10th Avenue dock. That building was most recently used to store bulk cargoes.

Holt has also subleased space in a 50,000-square-foot vacant freezer/refrigerator building that Van Kamp used in its defunct tuna operation.

Although Holt said he initially would concentrate on Chilean fruit, the operation would likely be expanded to include a variety of imported perishables, including frozen beef from Australia and New Zealand, chestnuts from Italy and frozen orange juice concentrate from Brazil.

He also indicated that growth would include the exportation of U.S.-grown produce.

The first ship will arrive in late January, and ships will continue to arrive every Monday through April. Each arriving vessel will provide jobs for several hundred longshoremen who will be needed to unload the ships, according to port officials.

Others to Benefit

Teamsters and independent truck drivers would also benefit from the operation, Eastes said. “We’re probably talking the equivalent of 300 trucks for each ship, given whole and partial loads.”

As shipments of Chilean fruit through San Diego increase and as Holt’s import-export business matures, port revenues from his operation could exceed $500,000, according to William T. Stonehouse, director of trade development for the San Diego Unified Port District.