PORT OF HUENEME : Del Monte to Import 50% More Bananas

Del Monte Tropical Fruit Co. will import 50% more bananas through the Port of Hueneme each year beginning in January, company spokesmen have told Oxnard Harbor District commissioners.

The company’s weekly load will jump from 100,000 to 150,000 tons a year, including fruit shipped for Turbana Corp.

After the Ecuadorean fruit reaches Ventura County’s deep-sea port, it is distributed across the West Coast and Canada.

Turbana formerly shipped its bananas into the Port of Los Angeles on vessels owned by United Fruit Co., growers of Chiquita-brand bananas. The ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Hueneme are the only West Coast ports that handle bananas.

At their Tuesday meeting, Oxnard Harbor District commissioners called the contract a tremendous boon to the port’s economic viability. Del Monte officials expect to pay the port about $100,000 more per year.

Port customers are charged fees based on the length of ships, length of stay and fruit discharge per ton, said Kevin Lee, Del Monte’s operations manager.

Turbana once shipped bananas into Ventura County on its own vessels, but as the company’s volume dropped off, it contracted to put bananas on United Fruit ships.

“It’s 50% more bananas with minimum impact on the port,” said William Buenger, the port’s deputy executive director. “The ships are already here. It compacts it.”