Fresh Del Monte Produce Works to Mitigate Shipping Disruptions in Costa Rica; Raul Saca Discusses

COSTA RICA - During Fresh Del Monte Produce’s recent Q2 2025 Earnings Call, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Abu-Ghazaleh explained that the company is actively managing major shipping disruptions at Costa Rica’s Port of Caldera, where unusually strong ocean swells have created a chokepoint for vessel access by tropical fruit exporters.

“Produce is a highly perishable product. With delays at the port due to high swells, severe port congestion, schedule disruptions, and in some cases labor strikes, the shelf-life of the produce is diminished,” Raul Saca, Fresh Del Monte’s Senior Vice President of Global Logistics, told me. “Additionally, delivery to our customers gets interrupted, creating additional challenges.”

According to Fresh Del Monte, these shipping disruptions are causing severe congestion as well as delays for vessels for up to five days, which is driving up costs across the produce supply chain.

“We are cooperating with other shipping lines to minimize the effect of the delays and adjusting wherever possible. This includes things like swapping slots with other shipping lines. If both lines are going to the same destination, we load the cargo in Caldera for our customers and theirs, and they load our cargo and theirs in Quetzal. This type of slot exchange and cooperation allows for one less vessel in each port, easing congestion once the ports become operational,” Raul explained.

With minimal structural protection at the port, the impact is industry-wide. Fresh Del Monte teams are responding with urgency—adjusting schedules, reallocating shipments, and working to maintain service continuity for its customers.

“To mitigate the consequences, we are looking at alternative ports; however, there is no short-term solution,” Raul continued. “Caldera is very important for Fresh Del Monte because of the pineapples. The Port Authority has issued a tender for a port concession that includes the expansion and modernization of the port. This expansion will involve building new berths protected from swells and increasing the port's capacity. That will solve the problems, but in my estimation, it will take 2–3 years at least.”

Raul added that Fresh Del Monte also looked at shipping the cargo through the East Coast from Costa Rica and Guatemala to Freeport, Texas, and trucking the cargo from there to the West Coast. He said this is a very costly solution, but the company is evaluating it.

“In the meantime, we are managing week by week by cooperating with other shipping lines and skipping ports to catch up on the schedules when the vessels get delayed,” Raul concluded.

The AndNowUKnow team will continue to monitor these shipping disruptions and report back as we learn more.