Chiquita North America expects to better serve its West Coast customers with its own faster shipping service from key banana-growing regions of Latin America.

In a release, the subsidiary of Chiquita Brands International said the dedicated new banana shipping service and supply chain improvements would cut fruit transit times to four to five days in reaching the Port of Hueneme, Los Angeles, California.

The group said this meant the transit period would be effectively cut in half.

Chiquita Fresh North America executive vice president Chris Dugan told Fresh Fruit Portal the new service was faster as it was direct rather than multi-stop.

In addition, the company reported it had been engaged in a major refrigerated container renewal program, and replaced 65% of its fleet since 2014 in order to bring about more sustainable shipping practices.

Chiquita operates in excess of 15,000 refrigerated containers, which play a key role in the logistics of today’s banana supply chain.

Read the whole story at FreshFruitPortal