Distributors Green Earth and Alberts Organic claim they lost more than $65,000 of produce that went off en route to Philadelphia.

Their complaint alleges the consignments were loaded on to two German-owned ships, the 2,450-teu Helene S (built 2007) and the 2,524-teu Kiel Trader (built 2003), at Paita in Peru in January.

The containers were transferred to two other vessels before arriving in the US, the Pennsylvania Record reported.