Customized Brokers, a subsidiary of Crowley Maritime, will coordinate the ocean shipment of perishable products from Latin America to the Port of Miami or Port Everglades and then transport them to MIA, the airport says, where they will depart by air via KLM Cargo or Centurion Cargo to Europe and Asia.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) also approved expedited processing of these ocean shipments before they depart by air.

With South American currencies currently depressed against the U.S. dollar, demand is up for north-south exports — the majority of which are perishables — in the air cargo sector, Customized Brokers says. This season has seen 100 freighters allocated to transporting lemons alone.

The ocean-to-air program is expected to save both time and money for cargo shippers, who will receive expedited air transport and exemption from CBP duties. It will also allow European and Asian households to “receive produce from Latin America at the peak of freshness, extending, in some cases, the seasonality for certain available items,” according to the airport.

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