Great White Fleet to Restructure Service in December
Chiquita's shipping arm will split Gulf Coast and East Coast coverage into two separate loops beginning in December 2026.
Updated on Nov. 7, 2026 in Transportation
Great White Fleet, the shipping division of Chiquita, plans to remove Port Everglades from its USSE service and move that call to a new Port Everglades-Wilmington service branded PEWI. The restructuring takes effect in December 2026 and separates Gulf Coast and U.S. East Coast coverage into two dedicated loops.
Why it matters
The change reorganizes how bananas and other cargo move between Central America and U.S. ports, separating routes that previously shared a rotation. Shippers and port operators along both coasts will see shifts in which vessels call where.
The new PEWI service will run weekly with two container ships of approximately 1,800 TEUs each. The extraction does not report capacity figures for the revised USSE rotation, so the net change in deployed capacity cannot be determined.
The players
Great White Fleet
The shipping division of Chiquita Brands International that operates banana and fruit transport services between Central America and North America.
The details
Great White Fleet is moving the Port Everglades call out of its USSE rotation and into the new PEWI service connecting Port Everglades and Wilmington, Delaware. The USSE loop will run Puerto Barrios, Puerto Cortés, Puerto Barrios, Gulfport, Freeport, Texas, and back to Puerto Barrios, consolidating Gulf Coast calls on one route.
Timeline
December 2026: Great White Fleet restructuring takes effect.
Market Landscape
The split into separate Gulf Coast and East Coast loops follows a pattern of fruit carriers organizing Central America-U.S. service into dedicated regional rotations. It positions Great White Fleet to serve each U.S. coast on a schedule tailored to that market rather than through a single combined route.
Shippers moving fruit or cargo between Central America and U.S. ports will need to confirm which vessel and port call applies to their route after December 2026. Port Everglades users will be served by the PEWI service rather than the USSE rotation.
The takeaway
Shippers and port users should review their booking schedules ahead of December 2026 to confirm which Great White Fleet service now serves their port. Separating coastal loops may change transit options for cargo moving to Gulf and East Coast destinations.
What happens next
Great White Fleet's restructuring takes effect in December 2026.
Further reading
Explore more Transportation coverage for context on how shipping networks are reorganizing across trade lanes.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Container News.
