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The San Diego Unified Port District has adopted a new trade development strategy after banning the regular use of the toxic fumigant methyl bromide.
The ban came last week after a unanimous vote by the Port Commission.
Most of the methyl bromide at the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal Cold Storage Facility was used on Chilean grapes.
"That certainly puts us out the Chilean fruit business doesn't it?" said Ed Bowman, the port's director of trade development.
The port already had a lack of Chilean fruit imports, suffering a $77,000 budget shortfall last year. However, Chilean fruit only accounted for less than 1 percent of the port's total cargo for fiscal year 1996-97.
"I don't want people to get the idea we're out of business," Bowman said.
For the past four years, the port has suffered a loss of $1.3 million a year in operating expenses on the facility. That loss will turn into a profit for fiscal year 1997-98, thanks to a new cold storage operator hired in April.
The new operator, Tampa-based Harborside Refrigerated Services, Inc., has lured several business opportunities to the facility this month.
For the first time, the port expects to export...