Sources: Containerization International & PIERS.
(Detailed PDF Map)

Main American Banana Import Ports, 2011

The banana is the world's fifth most traded agricultural commodity. All the banana multi-nationals were initially fully vertically integrated as they owned plantations, port terminals, reefer ships, ripening centers and cold storage facilities. A important dimension of the banana trade concerns its containerization. In the past tropical fruits were dominantly transported in purpose designed reefer ships. The last 20 years have seen a rapid containerization of the banana trade, which now accounts for 20% of all maritime reefers usage. For instance, about 60% of all the bananas imported in the United States are carried in refrigerated containers. Accordingly, the specialized reefer ship is gradually being phased out to be replaced by specialized containerships, most with their own cranes, designed to carry refrigerated containers. Additionally, conventional container shipping lines are offering reefer capacity on their ships, which is capturing a growing share of the banana trade.

The United States is a large importer of tropical fruits with a long history of corporations actively involved in their production, transport and distribution. For instance, Dole, Del Monte and Chiquita are household names that have actively been involved in the commercialization of bananas for more than 100 years with products mostly coming from Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, and Panama. They are among the 10 largest importers of containerized cargo in the United States with Dole and Chiquita importing respectively the equivalent of 211,000 and 117,000 TEUs in 2010. There is a high level of concentration of the banana trade along a few ports in the United States; the 10 largest ports accounting for 91% of the 4.7 million tons imported in 2011. Wilmington, Delaware, handling close to 1 million tons per year, is the largest banana import port in North America, but second to Antwerp which is the world's largest.

Since the banana trade is a mass market with a constant demand it is mostly carried is small specialized and fast ships that do not require deep draft. As evidenced on the above map, the main import ports are small niche ports in proximity to major markets. The shipping companies thus avoid the risk of congestion and delays that can be prevalent in large port facilities. Ports of the Delaware river (Wilmington, Philadelphia and Chester) are called instead of New York where the banana trade used to take place. In the 1980s, Chiquita and Dole relocated their facilities to Wilmington, which created a significant cluster of refrigerated import activities with specialized terminals, on-dock and inland refrigerated warehouses, and labor trained to handle these types of goods. A similar pattern applies on the West Coast where Hueneme and San Diego are used instead of Los Angeles and on the Gulf Coast with Gulfport, the dominant facility of the range.