China Eastern Airlines inaugurated its weekly charter service for Northwest cherries to Shanghai at a ceremony at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on 11 June.
China Eastern will facilitate the movement of cherries and other meat, fish and dairy products produced in the US through its new e-commerce site, Eastern Origin Express. The e-commerce site will be integral to allowing direct business from the US to the Chinese mainland.
“By collecting orders in a pre-sale format, sourcing products at their origins, delivering them by air, and distributing the goods on the ground, the company increases efficiency, curtails costs, and simplifies the trade process, all while guaranteeing product quality,” said China Eastern Airlines in a corporate release.
According to the release, China Eastern hopes to ship as much as 400 metric tonnes of Northwest cherries per week over the next two months, during the peak of the season.
China Eastern president Li Yangmin attended the ceremony and pointed out that the airline had traditionally focused on its passenger business, and is now expanding its cargo service, utilising e-commerce for fruit and other agricultural products. “Our goal is to deliver high-quality Northwest cherries from the orchard to the consumer within 48 hours,” said Li.
B J Thurlby, president of Northwest Cherry Growers, said his association was excited about the prospects for increased e-commerce sales to China via the new charter service.
“The timing for such an endeavor couldn’t be more perfect as we expecting a cherry crop of as much as 200,000 tonnes of cherries this season,” said Thurlby. “About 60,000 tonnes will go to export markets. Our record for shipments to China has been 2m cartons, but we hope to ship as much as 3m in 2014.”
Director of aviation operations for the Port of Seattle, Michael Ehl, said Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was constructing new cargo warehousing and plane parking areas as well as expanding and modernising existing facilities to lure more freight business its way.
“(Seattle-Tacoma International) is very interested in expanding its air cargo commerce,” said Ehl. “We are looking forward to a long-term partnership with China Eastern Airlines.”
