Following last week's announcement by Chiquita's new Brazilian owner, Cutrale-Safra, that it will be swapping the port of Antwerp in Belgium for Vlissingen in the Netherlands for all its northern European banana arrivals, commentators have been scrambling around to discover the chief motivations behind the move.
Franklin Ginus, CEO of Chiquita Benelux, stated that the switch would save as much as four days' shipping time, a figure seized upon by Johan Claes of Belgian New Fruit Wharf (BNFW) in Antwerp.
'It's a mystery to us how docking at Vlissingen can be four days faster when it takes just 4-5 hours less to sail to Vlissingen than to Antwerp,' he told FreshPlaza.
Jack Kloosterboer of Kloosterboer, which will now handle Chiquita bananas at the port of Vlissingen, employed a lower figure, suggesting that the fruit would benefit from 2-3 days less travelling time.
He said that the overall aim was to improve the value chain and the quality Chiquita offered its customers. 'The main reasons are to improve the fruit's age by 2-3 days, ensure competitive conditions in the market place, and utilise a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of Kloosterboer Vlissingen,' he told Eurofruit. 'Kloosterboer is known for its innovative and sustainable supply chain solutions.'
According to Kloosterboer, Chiquita has begun discussions to use the energy produced by the wind turbine at Kloosterboer for the handling and cooling of its bananas. 'One turbine has so far been installed and three new ones will be installed in 2015,' he said.
However, Claes expressed doubts concerning the green-centric argument. 'The energy BNFW uses for cooling, lighting as well as all forklifts and pallet trucks is 100 per cent green energy, with sustainable origin certificates,' he said.
He also mentioned the number of trucks that would now have to travel several miles further as a result of the change of port. 'A sustainable solution?' Claes asked rhetorically. 'We accept the new owner's decision to change, but we'd prefer to hear the correct arguments from Franklin Ginus.'
Leo Lagendijk of Zeeland Seaports, which includes the ports of Vlissingen and Terneuzen, said that one of its customers at Vlissingen, ZZC, had been handling bananas for years, and that one of the port's recent targets had been to win some cargo volumes from Antwerp.
'Together with Kloosterboer, who already had an agreement with Cutrale in Rotterdam, we organised meetings with Chiquita and talked about advantages like saving fuel, saving time, lower stevedore costs, lower port dues, good labour facilities and sustainability,' he told Eurofruit. 'As a Christmas present, Chiquita agreed to leave Antwerp and come to Vlissingen for three years. We’re talking about 170,000 tonnes of bananas annually. Let’s wait and see if other companies follow.'
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