Hamburg Süd has hailed its Cherry Express Service (CES) from Chile to China for Chinese New Year 2018 a “massive success” after it achieved ten sailings that shipped 7,000 containers of cherries from Valparaiso to Hong Kong and Shanghai in time for the 16 February festivities.
Hamburg Süd general manager commercial for South America West Coast, Caribbean and Latin America West Coast, Tim Stout, said the CES vessels reached Hong Kong in just 22 days, some six days faster than the firm’s normal service; and that no Chilean cherries were left behind.
“Our first priority, on each and every voyage, was to load onboard every cherry container that we had accepted from our customers. This was the most important success, I think. We did not leave behind, on any of the ten sailings, one single reefer container that we had booked,” he said.
2018 marks the second year Hamburg Süd has offered this express service to Chilean cherry exporters, Stout explained. Yet this year, Hamburg Süd was able to fix four extra CES sailings than in 2017 thanks to the later date of Chinese New Year.
“Just as well, because the cherry crop came late this year, and the volume really built up over the last four or five voyages with the last vessel sailing direct to Hong Kong, full speed out of Valparaiso, on 16 January,” Stout said.
Next year will be “interesting”, he added, since Chinese New Year 2019 will be 11 days earlier than in 2018.
Stout told Fruitnet that Hamburg Süd was “open” to maintaining its express service between Chile and China at other times of the year, for other fresh fruits.
“We’re open to anything,” he said, “as long as the customers want it and the additional costs of changing our service are covered.
“Right now, we have just changed the rotation of our ASPA Sling 2, giving shippers in Chile a second outbound call at San Antonio and thereby reducing the transit time into Busan and Shanghai for grapes and stonefruit, mainly, by a week compared to the normal schedule. This will run for the duration of the Chile fruit season, as long as the volumes are there to justify it.”
Stout added that he fully expected Hamburg Süd to offer its express cherry service again next year, and for the years to come.
He said Maersk’s November 2017 acquisition of Hamburg Süd for e3.7bn was unlikely to affect its CES and other fresh fruit services.
“Our new Asia/WCSA service with Maersk will launch in April. In terms of our service for fruit from Chile to Asia, it’s pretty much the same as what we have today: very fast as normal schedule to Hong Kong, and with the possibility to mount another cherry express and go faster still.”
