U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) are pushing to increase business at Florida ports by urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to restructure the way the agency charges ships to fumigate produce imported into the U.S.
Before a cargo ship offloads any imported produce arriving at a U.S. port, the shipment must first be inspected and fumigated. The fee that a ship pays to have their produce fumigated is set by USDA and is currently charged on a “per-enclosure basis” – meaning, a ship pays the same fee to fumigate a warehouse full of goods in the Northeast as they do to fumigate one shipping container in Florida.
