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Commodities: Miami, Tampa

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Effective October 1, a new pilot program allows cold treatment products the direct importation of Peruvian fruit via PortMiami. The Tampa Port Authority (TPA) reports Tampa Gateway Rail terminal processed 3,897,189 barrels of ethanol – transported in 5,705 railcars – all within its first year of operation.  

PortMiami Set to Import Peruvian Fruit

For several years, PortMiami has been working to attract fruit cargo from Peru. In the past, certain Peruvian products could enter the United States only through certain northeastern ports. Effective October 1, a new pilot program allows cold treatment products to be imported directly to PortMiami. Thanks to the efforts of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Florida Perishables Coalition, Peruvian grapes and blueberries can be shipped directly from Peru to PortMiami. The produce will be cold treated prior to its departure from Peru and will arrive ready for immediate distribution and sale.

Cold treatment is a process performed on fruits and vegetables that entails sustained refrigeration sufficient to kill pests associated with imported fruits and vegetables.

The first shipment of grapes from Peru to partake in the USDA Cold Treatment Pilot left Peru November 12 and is due at PortMiami on November 30.

"It is great to see that the combined efforts of the U.S. and Peruvian governments have paid off," says PortMiami Director Bill Johnson. "Thanks to the efficient processing of cargo at PortMiami, this produce will be able to reach 70 percent of the U.S. population in four days or less. This opens up opportunities for both our countries, and we look forward to increasing bilateral trade."

Tampa Port Reports Ethanol Rail Traffic Surge

The Tampa Port Authority (TPA) reports Tampa Gateway Rail terminal processed 3,897,189 barrels of ethanol – transported in 5,705 railcars – all within its first year of operation. The facility, operated by CSX subsidiary TRANSFLO, received its first train in November 2012.

The Tampa Gateway Rail terminal was a collaborative project undertaken by the port authority, CSX Corporation, and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. The intermodal project, announced in 2011 as a public-private partnership, brings fuel-grade ethanol into the Tampa market.

Designed to be a multipurpose terminal, which could also handle intermodal containers and other general cargo traffic, the Tampa Gateway Rail facility is adjacent to the port’s container terminal and provides direct access to the CSX rail network. The total project cost was $10.9 million.

For its part, the TPA built new rail track and support infrastructure to handle 96-car unit train deliveries, as well as a multi-product unit train offloading yard at Hooker’s Point, in the Port of Tampa. Kinder Morgan invested in new pipelines to transport the ethanol from the rail offloading facilities to its Tampa terminal where it can be distributed to other Tampa terminals for blending or transported to Orlando for gasoline blending at Kinder Morgan’s Orlando terminal.

The Tampa Gateway Rail facility, at the Port of Tampa, opened in September 2012.
Photo/Tampa Port Authority
 

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