Chiquita Vessel

Chiquita has launched a new West Coast shipping service that will cut journey times by half to 4-5 days for bananas arriving at the Port of Hueneme-Los Angeles.

Together with the ongoing upgrade of its refrigerated containers this will result in fresher bananas for its Western customers, the company said.

Since 2014, it has replaced 65 per cent of its fleet of 15,000 refrigerated containers, allowing it to save up to 35 per cent on energy consumption and cut CO2 emissions by up to 17,000 tonnes a year.

“All of us on the North America team are excited to deliver the freshest and highest quality Chiquita Bananas available to our customers,” said executive vice president of Chiquita Fresh North America Chris Dugan.

“In addition to recent investment in our farms, this is another example of how we continue look for new ways to improve our freshness, our everyday quality and the satisfaction of our costumers.”