Dole Food Co., the biggest tenant at the Port of San Diego’s busiest terminal, appears close to staying for 25 more years despite a lease it can break this year and past talks to move to the Port of Hueneme near Oxnard.
Spokesmen for Dole and the San Diego Unified Port District said this week that the company has formally notified the port of its intent to remain here. They also said the two sides are finalizing the terms of a new lease, which they didn’t disclose Wednesday.
The Port of San Diego became Dole’s entry point to the West Coast market in 2002 after the company signed a 20-year lease. Dole now estimates it brings in nearly 50,000 containers of produce a year — including 20 million boxes of bananas and 3 million boxes of pineapples — via the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal.
That terminal handled 82 percent of the port’s cargo tonnage last year.
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