The Port of Virginia announced the successful completion of the US Department of Agriculture’s Southeast In-Transit Cold Treatment Pilot program. This program will enable importers of perishables from South American countries to move their cargo across the Port.
The approval comes at a time when the port is trying to expand its capacity to handle refrigerated cargo. Namely, it is investing a total of $700 million to expand capacity at its two primary container terminals, Virginia International Gateway (VIG) and Norfolk International Terminals (NIT).
John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, said:
We’re expanding the stack-yard at VIG and reconfiguring the yard at NIT, and both of these projects include new reefer racks for each stack. When construction is finished, we’ll have nearly 900 reefer spaces at each terminal, which is a 66 percent increase in total reefer capacity
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The port is also able to handle refrigerated cargo on the Richmond Express barge, which connects the port’s terminals in the Norfolk Harbor to Richmond Marine Terminal (RMT) with thrice-weekly service. In 2017, the port invested in a 40-plug power unit for the barge.
In October 2017, the port started taking part in USDA’s pilot program that allowed imports of some refrigerated fresh fruits from South America. According to the program, Virginia was able to import cold-treated containers of blueberries, citrus, and grapes from Peru; blueberries and grapes from Uruguay; and apples, blueberries, and pears from Argentina. The approval applies immediately.
Before the program’s beginning in 2013, the perishables had to enter Northeastern ports for cold treatment and clearance and were then transported to southern states for distribution into stores.
According to Mr. Reinhart, shippers will see lower transportation costs and a longer shelf life for their products. As for consumers, they will see lower prices at the store, while there will also be environmental benefits from reduced emissions-related transportation.
Finally, the program enables containerized imports to enter the port directly after completing a two-week cold treatment process, to protect them against fruit flies and other pests, as well as receiving the necessary unloading clearances before the shipment arrives at port.
With cold treatment, perishable fruit imports have their pulp brought to a certain temperature for a period of time, in order to comply with USDA quarantine requirements.
