Atlantic Fruit Company

Atlantic Fruit Company
Industry	Shipping
Fate	Sold to Standard Fruit Company
Founded	1905;114 years ago in Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Founder	Joseph Di Giorgio
Defunct	1932

Last updated June 06, 2019

The Atlantic Fruit Company was an American shipping company formed in 1905 by Joseph Di Giorgio in Baltimore.^[1] Di Giorgio arrived in Baltimore from Sicily in 1899. When he moved to California in 1911, the business was worth $12 million.^[2]

Baltimore is the largest city in the state of Maryland within the United States. Baltimore was established by the Constitution of Maryland as an independent city in 1729. With a population of 602,495 in 2018, Baltimore is the largest such independent city in the United States. As of 2017, the population of the Baltimore metropolitan area was estimated to be just under 2.802 million, making it the 21st largest metropolitan area in the country. Baltimore is located about 40 miles (60 km) northeast of Washington, D.C., making it a principal city in the Washington-Baltimore combined statistical area (CSA), the fourth-largest CSA in the nation, with a calculated 2018 population of 9,797,063.

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy. It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions, in Southern Italy along with surrounding minor islands, officially referred to as Regione Siciliana.

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 9.7 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second-most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

In 1906, United Fruit Company bought a half share in the company, but antitrust law forced them to sell it. Di Giorgio and his business became partners with the Vaccaro brothers of Standard Fruit Company and formed the Mexican American Fruit & Steamship Company in 1923. The company name was changed to American Fruit & SS Company in 1927, and the business was sold to Standard Fruit Company by 1932.^[1]

United Fruit Company American corporation

The United Fruit Company was an American corporation that traded in tropical fruit, grown on Latin American plantations, and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was formed in 1899, from the merger of Minor C. Keith's banana-trading concerns with Andrew W. Preston's Boston Fruit Company. It flourished in the early and mid-20th century, and it came to control vast territories and transportation networks in Central America, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, Ecuador, and the West Indies. Though it competed with the Standard Fruit Company for dominance in the international banana trade, it maintained a virtual monopoly in certain regions, some of which came to be called banana republics, such as Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala.

Vaccaro brothers originally from Sicily were Italian-American businessmen. Involved in import of fresh produce, they incorporated as the Vaccaro Bros. and Co. in 1906. Also expanded into providing ice to refrigerate the ships eventually building up a 35-ship fleet. As the nature of businesses expanded, in 1924, the company's name was changed to Standard Fruit Company and in 1926 to Standard Fruit and Steamship Company.

Standard Fruit Company was established in the United States in 1924 by the Vaccaro brothers. Its forerunner was started in 1899, when Sicilian immigrants Joseph, Luca and Felix Vaccaro, together with Salvador D'Antoni, began importing bananas to New Orleans from La Ceiba, Honduras. By 1915 the business had grown so large that it bought most of the ice factories in New Orleans in order to refrigerate its banana ships, leading to its president Joseph Vaccaro becoming known as the "Ice King".

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ARCO oil company part of British Petroleum.

Atlantic Richfield Company is an American oil company with operations in the United States, Indonesia, the North Sea, the South China Sea, and Mexico. It has more than 1,300 gas stations in the western part of the United States, and recently five gas stations at northwestern Mexico. ARCO was formed by the merger of East Coast–based Atlantic Refining and California-based Richfield Oil Corporation in 1966. A merger in 1969 brought in Sinclair Oil Corporation. It became a subsidiary of UK-based BP plc in 2000 through its BP West Coast Products LLC (BPWCP) affiliate. On August 13, 2012, it was announced that Tesoro would purchase ARCO and its refinery for $2.5 billion. However, the deal came under fire due to increasing fuel prices. Many activists urged state and federal regulators to block the sale due to concerns that it would reduce competition and could lead to higher fuel prices at ARCO stations. On June 3, 2013, BP sold ARCO and the Carson Refinery to Tesoro for $2.5 billion. BP sold its Southern California terminals to Tesoro Logistics LP, including the Carson Storage Facility. BP will continue to own the ampm brand and sell it to Tesoro for Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada. BP exclusively licensed the ARCO rights from Tesoro for Northern California, Oregon, and Washington.

McCormick & Company spice, herb, and flavoring manufacturing company headquartered in Sparks, Maryland

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Sunkist Growers, Incorporated is an American citrus growers' non-stock membership cooperative composed of 6,000 members from California and Arizona. It is currently headquartered in the Valencia neighborhood of Santa Clarita, California. Through 31 offices in the United States and Canada and four offices outside North America, its sales in 1991 totaled $956 million. It is the largest fresh produce shipper in the United States, the most diversified citrus processing and marketing operation in the world, and one of California's largest landowners.

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The Penn Fruit Company was a regional grocery chain in the Philadelphia and Baltimore areas that operated from 1927 until 1978. During the firm's history it was regarded as one of the most innovative American supermarket chains. However, the company's innovations often were copied by its bigger rivals who eventually succeeded in causing the chain's demise.

CalAtlantic Group, Inc. is a home construction company based in Arlington, Virginia and was America's 4th largest homebuilder as of 2016. The company built homes for more than 113,000 families during its 46-year history. In June 2015, Standard Pacific Homes and Ryland Homes announced the companies were merging. The combined company was expected to be the nation's fourth largest home builder. Following the merger the name was changed to CalAtlantic Group, Inc, traded on the NYSE under the ticker symbol CAA. In February 2018, the company was acquired by Lennar Corporation (LEN), creating the largest homebuilder in the US with combined revenues of $17 billion and a presence in 21 states.

The Bank of Saint George was a financial institution of the Republic of Genoa. It was founded in 1407 to consolidate the public debt, which had been escalating due to the war with Venice for trading and financial dominance. The Bank's primary mission was to facilitate the management of the San Giorgio shares (luoghi). It was one of the oldest chartered banks in Europe and of the world. The Bank's headquarters were at the Palazzo San Giorgio, which was built in the 13th century by order of Guglielmo Boccanegra, uncle of Simone Boccanegra, the first Doge of Genoa.

The Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Steamship Corporation of Baltimore, Maryland was incorporated in May 1920. Its primary mission was to transport goods and produce across the Atlantic, across the Pacific and coast to coast via the Panama Canal. It was started by Baltimore natives W. Bernard Duke, President, Currall A. Askew, Vice President, and William B. W. Mann, Secretary and Treasurer. Duke had been President of the Seaboard Bank of Baltimore; Askew was previously General Manager of States Marine Company and Steamship Manager for Thomas Cook and Sons; Mann was formerly of Mann Shipbuilding Company.

Giorgio Jan was an Italian taxonomist, zoologist, botanist, herpetologist, and writer. He is also known as Georg Jan or Georges Jan.

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Bernard Nadal Baker was a shipping magnate from Baltimore, Maryland.

Tartufo is an Italian ice cream dessert originating from Pizzo, Calabria. It is usually composed of two or more flavors of ice cream, often with either fruit syrup or frozen fruit — typically raspberry, strawberry, or cherry — in the center. It is typically covered in a shell made of chocolate or cocoa, but cinnamon or nuts are also used.

Di Giorgio is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is located 6.5 miles (10 km) south of Edison, at an elevation of 486 feet (148 m).

DiGiorgio corporation was a fruit-growing corporation and eventual conglomerate in the 20th century. Once a vast company, owning much of California's central valley farm land, and multibillion-dollar corporation, a massive restructuring in the 1990s limited its breadth. DiGiorgio now distributes food products under its White Rose brand name to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Richfield Oil Corporation was an American petroleum company based in California from 1905 to 1966. In 1966 it merged with Atlantic Refining Company to form the Atlantic Richfield Company.

Rosario di Giorgio was a steam cargo ship built in 1907 by the Nylands Verksted of Kristiania for Bernhard Hanssen of Flekkefjord. The ship was primarily employed as a fruit carrier during her career. She was named after Rosario di Giorgio, manager of Baltimore branch of Atlantic Fruit Company, and brother of Joseph di Giorgio, founder of the company.

References

1 2 "Atlantic Fruit Co. (Di Giorgio)". www.theshipslist.com. Swiggum. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
↑ Stoll, Steven (1998). The Fruits of Natural Advantage: Making the Industrial Countryside in California. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520920200.

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[sl-1] 1 2 "Atlantic Fruit Co. (Di Giorgio)". www.theshipslist.com. Swiggum. Retrieved 3 June 2019.

[Stoll-2] Stoll, Steven (1998). The Fruits of Natural Advantage: Making the Industrial Countryside in California. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520920200.