Port Manatee inks Del Monte lease extension
Florida, the USA based Port Manatee has signed an agreement to keep Del Monte fruit coming into the Florida Gulf Coast port for as many as 20 more years. Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc., which has imported fruit into the port since 1989, is now signed to a lease extension with Port Manatee through Aug. 30, 2021, with options for three additional extensions of five years each. If all options are exercised, Del Monte will be doing business at Port Manatee until at least 2036, the Port Authority said in a news release.
“Extension of Port Manatee’s long-term partnership with Del Monte demonstrates the mutual commitment on the part of our port and a most-valued tenant,” said Betsy Benac, chairwoman of the Manatee County Port Authority, which at its meeting on Aug. 18 approved the new agreement for Del Monte’s distribution facility at Port Manatee.
Port Manatee’s executive director, Carlos Buqueras, added, “We look forward to sharing success with Del Monte for decades to come.”
One of the North America’s largest marketers and distributors of fresh produce, including as the world’s No. 1 fresh pineapple marketer, Del Monte deploys refrigerated vessels to weekly import bananas and pineapples from Central America via containers and pallets. Export cargo includes linerboard that is used for packaging, as well as various third-party containers and project cargos.
“We are very pleased to continue our relationship with Port Manatee,” said Brian Giuliani, Del Monte’s Port Manatee-based port manager. “The cooperation with Port Manatee is exceptional and has been vital to the growth of our business at Port Manatee.”
Since 1989, Del Monte has moved 8.7 million short tons of cargo through Port Manatee, while Del Monte’s Southeast distribution center at Port Manatee has flourished to become the company’s second-largest U.S. facility.
Located “Where Tampa Bay Meets the Gulf of Mexico,” Port Manatee is the closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the expanded Panama Canal and Cuba’s Port of Mariel, with 10 40-foot-draft berths serving container, bulk, breakbulk, heavylift, project and general cargo customers. The port generates more than $2.3 billion in annual economic impact for the local community, while supporting more than 24,000 jobs, without levying ad-valorem taxes.
About Port Manatee
Port Manatee is one of Florida’s largest and fastest growing deepwater seaports. Located in the eastern Gulf of Mexico at the entrance to Tampa Bay, Port Manatee is also regarded as the closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the Panama Canal – providing shippers with speedy access to Pacific Rim markets. Annually nearly 8 million tons of containerized, breakbulk, bulk and project cargo are moved at the port. The volume includes fresh produce, forestry products, petroleum products, citrus juice products, fertilizer, steel, aluminum, automobiles, cement, aggregate and more. Port Manatee is Fresh Del Monte Produce’s second largest U.S. port facility and is also the Southeast’s leading forestry products importer.
