Documentary drives Dole Food Co. bananas

In the eyes of Swedish documentary filmmaker Fredrik Gertten, his documentary "Bananas!" is a balanced, nuanced depiction of a trial pitting Nicaraguan banana plantation workers and a prominent L.A. attorney against a powerful multinational agribusiness, reports Reed Johnson.

"It is a classical David-Goliath story," the director said in a phone interview last week.

In the eyes of Dole Food Co., Gertten's film is an egregiously flawed document based on what Dole lawyer Scott Edelman calls "a phony story" that has been discredited by the allegedly fraudulent conduct of Juan J. Dominguez, the L.A. attorney at the film's center. Dole, the world's largest producer of fruits and vegetables, is vowing to sue the filmmaker and the Los Angeles Film Festival for defamation if it screens the movie this week.

Read more of Johnson's report here and watch the trailer above.

Mexico on high alert for Obama; Americas summit awaits

Mexico City is on high alert this morning as it awaits the arrival of U.S. President Barack Obama, expected here today in his first official visit to Mexico.

West Coast ports face struggle to maintain relevance

Ronald D. White reports:

The slowdown in international trade has left the docks at the nation's biggest seaport complex quieter than they've been in years.

Some workers, particularly non-union "casuals," at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports wait for shifts that never come. Automobiles and other merchandise pile up as consumers dig in for a long economic winter.

But the problems at the twin ports, along with smaller West Coast harbors, extend beyond the nation's economic woes, maritime experts say, and changes on the horizon could leave the seaports struggling to keep customers.

That's the assessment of a recent report by London-based Drewry Supply Chain Consultants, a maritime industry research firm that has about 3,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

West Coast ports will see increased competition from the Panama Canal, which is undergoing a bigger-than-expected expansion due to be completed in 2014, Drewry said. In addition, rising Chinese labor costs will push some manufacturing back to Mexico and South America.

Read more of "West Coast ports face struggle to maintain relevance" here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Cargo ships wait to enter the Pedro Miguel lock along the route of the Panama Canal near Panama City. West Coast ports in the U.S. could take a "serious hit" in market share with the soon-to-be widened Panama Canal. Credit: Elmer Martinez / AFP / Getty Images