Dole Celebrates World Maritime Day Highlighting the Importance of Gender Equality and Sustainability

Dole Food Company joins The International Maritime Organization in celebrating the World Maritime Day every year on the 26^th of September. The theme this year is Empowering Women in the Maritime Industry, which aims to improve awareness on gender equality, coinciding with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal.

Historically, seafaring and vessel management has not been a preferred occupation by women. However, at Dole fifty percent of the company’s vessel management team are women as well as three female officers aboard its vessels.

“This year, in addition to celebrating the important contributions of our female co-workers to the vessel operations group, we would like to announce that Dole will be receiving two new ships in 2020-2021,” commented Inderjeet Aulakh, VP of Vessel Operations and Management at Dole. “These state-of-the-art builds, each with the ability to transport 919 reefer units, will be placed in Dole’s US Gulf Service and we expect to see reductions of NOx, SOx and CO₂ emissions per reefer unit of 63.2%, 48.54% and 48.54%, respectively. This is a result of the combination of both improved technology and the changes in the service route.”

As an organization that manages and maintains its own shipping supply chain, ocean transport is a positive differentiator for Dole contributing to continuous improvement goals through operating efficiencies and carbon footprint reductions. Dole is also addressing the expected 2020 regulatory requirements head on by implementing new technology scrubbers on five current vessels as well as on the new ships in order to meet SOx emission limits.

Renato Acuña, President of Dole Fresh Fruit Latin America, North America and Europe, commented, “These progressive steps in our shipping operations show the commitment that Dole has always placed on delivering the best product, in the best way possible for our communities.”

“This year’s World Maritime Day coincides with Mr. Aulakh’s retirement after more than 31 years with the Company,” adds Acuña. “I would like to thank him for his key contributions to Dole exemplified by a successful management of our fleet which by far has the lowest environmental footprint in the industry for fresh fruit products entering the United States, but also by developing and leaving in place a vessel management team second to none.”

About Dole Food Company

Dole Food Company, Inc. is one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of high-quality fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Dole is an industry leader in many of the products it sells, as well as in nutrition education. For more information, please visit www.dole.com.

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