The 'Port Morant', the first refrigerated ship specifically designed for the transport of bananas, was launched in 1901, marking a new chapter in the fruit trade. Bananas, highly perishable, required careful temperature control during their journey from the tropics to North American and European markets. This specialized vessel, equipped with CO2 refrigeration machinery, allowed for the large-scale importation of bananas, making them an affordable and common fruit, and it spurred the growth of the banana industry in Central and South America.

The banana, a fruit once rare and exotic, became a symbol of the globalized world and the reach of industrial agriculture, a theme that appears in modern poetry. The 'Port Morant' and the ships that followed represent the application of technology to the whims of the consumer, and they are a subject for poets interested in the connections between food, commerce, and culture. The banana, made accessible by refrigeration, appears in the work of poets from the Caribbean, like Derek Walcott, who use it as a symbol of the region's history and its place in the global economy.