Hueneme Port Lands Surplus Cargo Delivery

The Port of Hueneme has received its first big shipment of extra cargo because of traffic tie-ups at Los Angeles Harbor.

Looking for a less congested port, the Dole Fresh Fruit Co. has diverted its container operations this week to Port Hueneme naval base.

In a joint effort, the Oxnard Harbor District and Navy officials are letting the company use the base to unload the Dole California, which sailed into local waters Thursday night.

Port longshoremen are expected to unload the cargo, 600 freight containers filled with bananas from South America, through the weekend.

But officials said the Port of Hueneme has never seen such a big shipment of large cargo containers. Local dock workers usually unload pallets much smaller than the refrigerated banana containers, which are about 40 feet long and 8 feet high. The containers require a special crane for unloading.

The biggest number of such containers to arrive at the base previously is 100. Those containers carried another fruit company’s bananas into the Port of Hueneme last summer. The Dole fruit company is uncertain whether it will continue to use the Navy base for banana shipments, but its aim is to avoid the long waits at ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles.

Those ports have been backed up for numerous reasons, including an unexpected surge in imports for the holiday season and a nationwide shortage of rail cars to carry away incoming cargo.

At the Port of Hueneme, trucks are carrying off the Dole bananas to supermarkets.

“You don’t want to have your product sitting out,” said Tom Pernice, a spokesman for the Westlake Village-based fruit company. “There’s a huge backlog there. “

It is not uncommon for officials at the Naval Construction Battalion Center to let the harbor use its wharves when unexpectedly large shipments arrive.

Navy Capt. Harry Guess said use of the military port illustrates collaboration with the harbor district that stretches back several years.

“It’s a good example of joint use,” he said. Under the arrangement, the Navy will receive $9,000, or 60% of the $15,000 port charge Dole will pay to the district.

Meanwhile, local longshoremen are jubilant over the extra work. Port officials said about 200 longshoremen--who make $15 to $25 an hour--will work on round-the-clock shifts during the next couple of days.

“It’s a lot of work,” said Larry Carlton, a secretary dispatcher of the local chapter of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union. And with the holiday shopping season beginning, he said, “it’s a good time for it to be coming in.”

Kam Quarles, a spokesman for the Oxnard Harbor District, said local officials will see even more banana traffic in coming weeks. On Monday, Pacific Express Lines will begin receiving shipments of banana, citrus and general cargo at the district’s south terminal.

Things could stay busier than usual unless the Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors ease their backlog, Quarles said.

“It looks like a situation that may last awhile,” he said.