Port International receives first bananas from Haiti
Mike Port at the first shipment of Haiti bananas in Cap Haitien in mid-September.
For the first time in 60 years, Haiti has exported bananas again. With the shipping cool carriers, the first banana shipment arrived at the port of Antwerp, and was ceremoniously received by representatives of both the Haitian embassies in Berlin and Brussels.
The revival of the banana cultivation enables Haiti to create a sustainable and world-wide competitive economic foothold. Haiti is highly dependent on financial, humanitarian and technical help, not in the least because of the many natural disasters such as the earthquake in 2010.
Agritans was founded in the region Trou-du-Nord on the model of public-private-partnership, and unifies over 3000 small farmers from different cooperatives, who have built up banana production on over 1000 hectares of land. The goal of the project is to create a sustainable economic pillar and several thousand work places.
Christin Sperling (Sales Manager) of Port International GmbH is satisfied with the first bananas' quality.
Haiti is blessed with optimal climate conditions, a fertile soil and ambitious people, but there are many challenges to cope with still. Mike Port, managing shareholder at Port International, knows this from his own experience: “From building the business with organic and Fairtrade bananas from Ecuador and Columbia at the end of the 90's, as well as directly importing bananas from Peru close to the turn of the millennium, we have learned that pioneering work takes staying power and hard work. On the other hand, it is an affair of the heart for us to contribute to building up banana production. For we consider this to be a very sustainable and meaningful approach to development aid.”
Already since 1912, Theodor Port, Mike Port’s great-grandfather, imported the first bananas from Columbia to Europe. Thus, Port International brings a unique wealth of experience to the banana business; a world-wide network of experts and expertise about the market developments in Europe – a know-how which Port International actively contributes in Haiti. Quality personnel and external experts from Costa Rica, Columbia and Peru are sent to Haiti on a regular basis. “The quality of the bananas is based on the alpha and the omega. That’s why I regularly travel to Haiti myself to contribute my knowledge to building up the plantation” tells Christian Eising, quality manager at Port Interntional.
Ambassador Dr. Frantz Bataille and minister counsellor Dr. Dominique Dejean of the Haitian embassy in Berlin with Mike Port (managing shareholder) and Christian Eising (quality manager) of Port International GmbH.
Port International has made an agreement with Agritans regarding the marketing of first Haiti bananas, and shipped the first bananas from Haiti to Europe as a test-case. Now it is valid to further advance the building of the plantation in Haiti and to scale up, so that the European consumers might also enjoy the delicious Haiti-bananas.
Further information at:
Port International GmbH
Frau Karolina Miler
Lippeltstraße 1, D- 20097 Hamburg
Telefon: +49 - 40- 30 10 00 - 556
karolina@port-international.com
www.port-international.com