PORT HUENEME : First Shipment of Citrus Loaded at Dock Facility

Dockworkers at the Port of Hueneme on Thursday were busy loading the first shipments of California oranges and lemons bound for Japan as part of the port’s expanded export operations made possible by a new $10-million refrigerated loading warehouse.

Described by owners as “the most sophisticated on-dock storage facility in the world,” the huge warehouse will make Port Hueneme the exclusive West Coast export site for citrus grown by the 6,500 California farmers that belong to the Sunkist Growers Assn. Sunkist citrus shipments are valued at $350 million annually.

Officials of Sunkist, the port district and the cargo carrier were on hand Thursday for the first loading of cargo.

“This is the biggest thing in my whole career,” said Gerry Fountain, president of Cool Carriers, the Scandinavian shipping company handling the cargo.

Cool Carriers had handled Sunkist’s citrus shipments out of the port of Long Beach, but port officials there were cool on the idea of setting up a 20-year lease to operate a refrigerated on-dock warehouse. Oxnard Port District officials jumped at the opportunity, picking up two-thirds of the $10-million price tag for the facility.

Port officials expect the new warehouse to increase port revenues by 20% or more than $1 million a year. Cool Carriers plans on loading one or two ships every week with citrus.

“This port was built in 1937 primarily to serve the agricultural interests of the area,” said Port District Director Tony Taormina. “Now we’ve finally captured a niche for exporting something for the industry.”

Thursday’s excitement was tempered with the news that the port would lose incoming shipments of Australian meat. The Port of Hueneme was unloading monthly shipments from Cool Carriers ships, but increased costs of transporting the meat to market by rail has killed the enterprise.

Cool Carriers had planned to save money by unloading the Australian cargo and then reloading the ships with California citrus. Now the ships will be sent to Philadelphia for unloading and then return empty before they are reloaded with citrus.

“You have to understand,” Fountain said, “even with coming back through the Panama Canal it is cheaper than paying the increased rail rates.”

Port officials are trying to renegotiate rates with the railroad to keep the ships coming into the dock.