The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently told how it helped turn a potential disaster involving a citrus-laden ship into a success story.
On Aug. 12, APHIS Plant Safeguarding Specialist David Kleinguenther learned that the cold treatment process aboard the marine vessel Regal Bay had likely failed. The ship, arriving in Philadelphia, was carrying more than 4,500 pallets of citrus from South Africa to the United States. The citrus must be kept at -0.55° C for 22 days to meet U.S. import requirements designed to protect against invasive plant pests and diseases. Failure to meet those standards meant it would face rejection at U.S. ports, potentially leading to substantial losses.
The cargo, valued at more than $10 million, could have been headed for spoilage. But thanks to swift action by Kleinguenther, APHIS officers Kevin O’Connor and Nivaldo Acevedo, and a network of industry partners, that worst-case scenario was avoided.
When the ship arrived, the officers inspected the cold-treatment compartments and worked with the Seatrade shipping line to trace the failure back to a computer motherboard malfunction. The team immediately went to work to find a way to save the shipment.
APHIS personnel worked with industry and logistics partners to identify a port with a facility suitable to perform the necessary cold treatment and capable of handling the volume of the citrus shipment. It was the South Port Terminal in Camden, New Jersey.
“Without the fast certification of the South Port Terminal, the entire shipment could have been lost,” said John Baker, APHIS supervisory officer. “We had two options: treat onsite or export the shipment.”
The APHIS team was able to arrange for the cold treatment to take place at a warehouse at the South Port Terminal. The shipping company treated 4,353 pallets there and exported the remainder to Canada. Over the next few weeks, APHIS completed seven cold treatments, meeting all the plant safeguarding requirements. The collaboration saved the shipment.
The South Port Terminal is now certified to handle similar cases in the future.
Source: APHIS
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