Government and Business Owners Attend Workshop on Agriculture Inspection of Produce
December 14, 2007 -- Tropical Shipping and the Port of Palm Beach hosted a workshop to address to the ongoing needs of customers who import produce. The focus of the workshop was to review the inspection process under Customs jurisdiction, consistency of process between ports and how to reduce produce inspection time.
“The goal was to make the process run smoothly and to reduce the amount of time involved in the inspection and clearance process to get the produce to the shelves quicker,” said Stephanie Duncan who is Tropical Shipping’s Transportation Compliance Manager.
Attendees included Tropical Shipping produce customers, representatives from the U.S. Customs & Border Protection, the USDA/APHIS and the Port of Palm Beach.
“The meeting was informative, beneficial and productive,” said Joe Domino from J&J Produce. "I found everyone that attended the meeting showed a genuine concern to help resolve the issues that were very important to us here at J&J Produce. We will continue to utilize Tropical Shipping and see no reason not to expand our operations in the Caribbean.”
Items presented for discussion during the workshop included U.S. Customs responsibilities, inspection process, container stowage and Emergency Actions. The USDA representative answered questions about the bug identification process, fumigation prevention, and Wood Packaging Regulations. The Port of Palm Beach representative finished the meeting by discussing responsibilities at the Port.
“The Port of Palm Beach is committed to working with CBP (Customs & Border Protection) and APHIS (Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service) to ensure compliance, ease inspections, and expedite results by resolving impediments and improving service to our customers,” said Kathy Andress, Deputy Director Port of Palm Beach. "We intend to make our service seamless and user-friendly to all produce importers servicing the Southeast Atlantic market. Tropical took the lead to open the dialog and the Task Force will drive the progress made here today and continue by establishing regular partnering sessions.”