Produce bins for packers and importers
Packers and importers handling produce at the river terminals and the wholesale market use ventilated partial-bottom gaylords, liners where product sweats, and a steady supply of clean, dry empties.
Where the fruit comes in
Produce reaches the Delaware Valley by water. The Port of Wilmington is North America's largest seaport for bananas. Holt's Gloucester Terminal handles Chilean grapes, Argentinian pears, Ecuadorian bananas, Costa Rican pineapples and Spanish and South African citrus. The Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market on Essington Avenue, a fully refrigerated 686,000 square foot building, handles distribution with 19 wholesale produce businesses.
Fruit moves from ship to cold room to ripening chamber to market, and gaylords are one of the ways it travels between the steps inside a building or between buildings. Most of that is in-plant, which makes it a closed loop: the box goes out, comes back, and goes out again.
What a produce box needs
| Feature | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Ventilated or partial bottom | Air reaches the load; condensation drains |
| Dry, clean board | Mold and odor stay out of the fruit |
| Liner | Separates product from old board |
| Matching footprint | Stacks stay square in a cold room |
| Wall count to match weight | Wet fruit is heavy and pushes outward |
| A way to track idle boxes | Closed loops lose boxes quietly |
Cold rooms test cardboard. AICC notes that moving corrugated between temperature zones can cause internal condensation, and that corrugated stored under load in humid conditions can lose nearly 45 percent of its compression strength after 90 days.
Clearing empties
A packing line that unloads a few hundred pallets a day produces a lot of empty boxes. If the building runs a closed loop, the empties go back to the line. If it does not, they pile up on a dock or in a corner of the cold room. Clear them out before they cost you floor space.
Tell us what the boxes carried and whether they have been in a cold room. Boxes that stayed cold and dry are usually fine. Boxes that went from cold to warm may have picked up condensation. Photos help.
Food contact
Produce touches the board. A used gaylord is not presented as food-safe for direct contact without a liner and the buyer's own food-safety rules. Read the food contact guide before you place a used box in a produce line. When in doubt, buy new or line it.
Questions people ask
What bins do produce packers use?
Ventilated partial-bottom gaylords, often octagon, with liners where needed.
Are used boxes OK for fruit?
Only with a liner and your own food-safety rules.
Can you take cold-room empties?
Yes. Say they came from cold storage and send photos.
Next door
| Place | Some of its ZIPs | Industries |
|---|---|---|
| Paulsboro, Gibbstown and West Deptford | 08066, 08027, 08086 | petroleum refining, asphalt and lubricants, marine terminals, chemical storage |
| Gloucester City | 08030 | fruit import terminal, cold storage, fumigation and ripening, breakbulk |
Sources
- Perishable News on the produce market, last reviewed November 11, 2026
- FreshPlaza on the Gloucester Terminal, last reviewed November 11, 2026
- Supply Chain Dive on the Port of Wilmington, last reviewed November 11, 2026
- AICC: corrugated and cold or humid storage, last reviewed November 11, 2026