John Kreick knows the value of setting up alternative supply lines, especially for a company such as his, which grows and sells fresh produce.
"We had a freeze on our citrus last year. It affected 60 percent of our crop," said Kreick, who is vice president of export operations for Pandol Bros. in Delano, California. But the company was still able to meet customers' demands by buying some fruit from South Africa and shipping it direct from there, he said.
"We keep our customers informed on a daily basis. There's no secret to this business," he said.
Grapes are Pandol's mainstay product. The company also sells California and Washington apples, California stone fruit, and broccoli, lettuce and celery from California's Salinas Valley and southern Maine, he said.
Pandol ships upward of 3,500 FEUs of product annually; in a good year, the volume might top 4,000 FEUs, he said. Most of the traffic is to the Far East, with Europe and South America providing secondary markets.
It's enough volume to enable the company to cut service contracts in individual trade lanes, but not enough to merit a global service pact, he said.
"When you ship enough volume, you're important to the carrier. We usually can get a container (and vessel space) when we need it," he said.
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