Del Monte Fresh Produce (“Del Monte”) entered into a definitive agreement for the building of six container ships to service their ocean transportation lanes between Central/South American and U.S. ports. This ship building program will initially replace their entire U.S. east coast fleet of vessels, with the first ship delivery estimated in late 2019, and will eventually be expanded to call other ports as all the new vessels come into service.
“Del Monte was one of the first large scale banana producers to receive the SCS Carbon Neutral Certification for our banana operations in Costa Rica. These new ships are an extension of our sustainability commitment on the high seas,” said Dennis Christou, Vice President Marketing of Del Monte.
“The six state of the art container vessels will not only increase our tonnage capacity and speed to market but will also significantly reduce air pollution and energy consumption. The new energy efficient vessels are designed to meet the most stringent IMO (International Maritime Organization) Emission control regulations coming into effect in 2020,” concluded Christou.
The six vessels have been designed by Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute and will be built at the CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding Company shipyard. Each vessel will have a capacity of 634 forty foot high cube container capacity. They are 192 meters in length overall with a breadth of 30 meters and design draft of 9.3 meters.
For more information:
Isabel Carretero
Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc.
Tel: +1 (305) 520-8400
icarretero@freshdelmonte.com
www.freshdelmonte.com