Past Events

Eight Annual Friend of Chile Award
By Tad Thompson, The Produce News. Week of November 21, 2005

PHILADELPHIA - International logistics executive George Sibley received the eighth

“Friend of Chile” award Nov. 16 at a luncheon, here.

Mr. Sibley who is senior vice president of Barthco International Inc., here, received the

award from the Chilean and American Chamber of Commerce in Philadelphia. More than 200 people were in attendance at the Hyatt Regency hotel, which, appropriately, overlooks the Delaware River. Ports on the river received 55 million cases of Chilean fruit last year.

Accolades for Mr. Sibley indicated that he was the freight forwarder for the first shipload of Chilean Fruit, which arrived in Philadelphia in 1975. he’s been an active leader in the

Chilean produce industry since that time. Mr. Sibley cited working with industry legends in his career, including Ed Guzi, Steve D’Arrigo and Jack Pandol. “Working with these giants was quiet an experience in itself,” he said. He credited the Chilean business for leading the trade in international produce, followed by countries such as Spain, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

Dennis Colgan, chairman of the board of Barthco, a full-service international logistics company founded in 1968, credited Mr. Sibley for his leadership in the Chilean and

American Chamber of Commerce “as well as the port in general. He is the most knowledgeable person in the port.” Mr. Colgan said that if anyone in the port has a problem, Mr. Sibley is the problem-solver for the port community because he has a broad insight to see solutions.

The meeting was moderated by Bob Blackburn, who is the deputy executive director of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and president of the Chilean and American Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Blackburn said that he has known Mr. Sibley “for the better part of 20 years. I have always known George to be extremely knowledgeable, professional, well-prepared and humble.”

Mr. Sibley, born in 1948, joined his father in 1966 in working for Vandergriff, a large

Customs house brokerage at the time. Mr. Sibley served two years in active duty in the

U.S. Army, including a year in Vietnam, returning to the industry in 1970. He joined Barthco in 1978.

Mr. Sibley has worked with over 150 fresh fruit importers, Mr. Blackburn said. In his opening remarks, Mr. Blackburn said that the Delaware River ports hope to import more than 55 million cases of fruit this year, “but as is often the case in our business, we have a challenge to overcome. There is an effort underway, not surprisingly coming from California, to move the USDA Marketing Order for seedless grapes from April 20 to April 1. If we allow this change to occur, it could cost our region millions of cases of fruit and several ship calls.” He encouraged the trade to contact their U.S. representative to fight the change.“ As an industry and as a port, we have to maintain a sense of vigilant political activism. Don’t think for a second that our friends in California aren’t [doing the same],” Mr. Blackburn said.