Chiquita Brands Returning to New Orleans After Nearly 40 years
New Orleans will be home again to Chiquita Brands International. The company is returning to the city from Mississippi after nearly 40 years and bringing up to 350 new jobs.
The state and the port, according to Bloomberg, offered more than $15 million in incentives. In addition, the state offered 10 years of subsidies estimated at $1.1 million to $1.5 million a year, based on how much cargo Chiquita handles in New Orleans, as well $2.2 million for a distribution and ripening facility to be owned by the port and leased to Chiquita.
The port will spend $2 million to fix up a container freight warehouse and install electrical hookups for refrigerated containers.
"This is a huge, historic win for the Port of New Orleans and for trade in our state," Gov. Bobby Jindal stated at a news conference with Mario Pacheco, SVP of Chiquita, at the New Orleans port.
The move will increase the amount of cargo handled at the port by about 15 percent, depending on the amount of cargo, according to a statement from Chiquita and the state.
Chiquita is expected to begin shipping through New Orleans in early 2015, the officials said.
Chiquita and Fyffes of Ireland agreed in March to merge and is expected to generate $4.6 billion in annual sales. Shareholder and regulatory approval is still needed in both Ireland and the United States.
"We at Chiquita are thrilled to return to the port and the great city of New Orleans as we implement a new shipping configuration," said Pacheco, who supervises the company's global logistics. "We are particularly excited about the enhanced service levels to our Chiquita and Great White Fleet customers that will result from this change in our shipping operations and expanded vessel capacity."
Chiquita plans to ship 30,000 to 39,000 twenty-foot equivalent units of bananas and other fruit into New Orleans, and about the same amount of various outbound cargoes.
Chiquita, at the time called United Brands, left New Orleans for Gulfport in the mid-1970s after more than 70 years in New Orleans. It is one of the Port of Gulfport's top four tenants, according to that port's website.
Congratulations to Chiquita and the city of New Orleans on the good times to come.
