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LOS ANGELES - 01/27/04 - The Lombok Strait, a specialized vessel with side door operations - a unique feature in the reefer industry - made her maiden arrival at the Port of Los Angeles recently delivering 5,500 pallets of Chilean-grown avocados and grapes bound for supermarkets throughout the Western US. 

The 14,413 grt, Netherlands-flagged Lombok Strait is one of only two refrigerated cargo ships in the world that features four side loading doors. The hydraulically-operated doors increase the ship's loading and unloading efficiency by significantly reducing the usual dependency on dockside or ship-board cranes.

The side doors also function as a weather protective canopies when in a fully open position, shielding palletized cargo from inclement weather. Another advantage is that cargo stowed below deck can be accessed without removing or repositioning containers loaded on the hatches above-deck. 

Chilean fruit is forming a greater and greater share of the approximately 300,000 metric tons of agricultural products that move through the Port of Los Angeles annually. 

The fruit and product shipments fill supermarket shelves in California's  off-season - which runs from December to April - making such popular items as avocados, grapes and peaches available to consumers across the US year- round.

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