Dole will pay $1.6 million a year in rent, plus dock fees, storage fees and other costs. The Dole deal will generate an annual income of $2.3 million for the port. In return, the port will build a $23.6 million refrigerated facility, in which Dole will employee 132 full-time workers--85 for truck drivers and 33 for longshoremen.

The new Dole business venture jump-starts container operations to approximately 40,000 containers annually at the Port of San Diego. It also bumps San Diego to 25th in ranking among the 48 U.S. container ports.

San Diego joins ports in Freeport, Texas; Wilmington, Del.; Port Everglades, Fla.; and Gulfport, Miss. in handling Dole refrigerated containers. The deal creates a container terminal that includes 511 electrical outlets for refrigerated container hook-up; a 9,400-sf, two-story office building/maintenance and repair facility; a container trailer wash facility; a gatehouse; and new paving, fencing and lighting.