Port of Quincy looks to East Coast for business

QUINCY - The Port of Quincy is now looking to East Coast companies to ship their oranges and citrus juice to the West Coast.

The right connections to do so were made at the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition.

The show was held in Atlanta, Ga. recently and is the largest trade show and exposition for the produce industry worldwide.

About 1,000 exhibitors and more than 18,500 people from 50 countries attended.

Port and Cold Train company officials were caught off-guard by feedback from citrus companies wanting to bring oranges and juice to the West Coast, said Pat Boss, the port's spokesperson.

Cold Train runs a refrigerated intermodal railcar service from the Port of Quincy to the Port of Chicago.

Another item mentioned at the show was the Foreign Trade Zone at the port, which provides some items duty-free status.

Port and Cold Train officials met with companies in Central Washington state wanting to haul their potatoes, onions and apples to the Midwest.

The train's speed and the use of containers makes it a popular service, Boss said.

"Our goal in Atlanta was to highlight Quincy as a hub for distributing produce and get the word out about Quincy being a great location for companies that are shipping produce to locate to," Boss said.

The port is working extensively with produce because of the Cold Train service, shipping about 300 containers monthly, including apples, potatoes and frozen corn. Cold Train started shipping five to 10 containers per week in 2010 and is now closer 60 to 80 containers per week.

Future opportunities for the port could include more business resulting when the Panama Canal is opened in 2014.

More cargo is expected to travel through Southeastern ports, prompting the question, "How can we work with these ports and bring business to Quincy?" Boss asked.