“It was one of the toughest citrus exporting seasons I’ve seen,” says Koji Suzuki with Jaspo Inc. “It was a horrible year for us. In fact, the whole industry was severely affected by the slowdown of the West Coast ports.” The labor disputes started in October and finally settled in February. Shipments gradually returned to normal, but the damage was done,” said Suzuki.
Quality was affected
“We export citrus to a number of Asian countries, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Cambodia.” During the time of the labor disputes, all shipments from the West Coast were affected and it took vessels more than twice as long to make it to their destinations. “These delays significantly impacted quality of produce and as a result, we decided not to ship anything for a limited period of time. Consequently, we lost a considerable amount of potential sales,” declared Suzuki.
“As a result of the labor disputes, our customers lost business as well. They either didn’t receive product at all or if they did, it was less than perfect because of the long transit times. We have programs with importers and retailers in Asia and couldn’t deliver. Now we are trying to recover from a bad year and so are our clients,” ended Suzuki.
