Kiwifruit marketer Zespri announced that a record shipment of Zespri kiwifruit was on its way from New Zealand to the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium.
The Seatrade Blue, one of Seatrade’s Colour-class containerships, is expected to arrive in Zeebrugge on Monday, according to Zespri’s marketing manager for Europe, Nele Moorthamers.
“The ship will carry 10,060 pallets in refrigerated containers, which is a record shipment,” she told Fruitnet. “Traditional reefer ships carry around 5,000 pallets, so this is much more.”
Out of this shipment of around 80m pieces of kiwifruit, SunGold accounts for 40 per cent, with green kiwifruit making up the remainder.
“This kiwifruit will be sold across central and northern Europe,” said Moorthamers. “Our southern European markets like Spain and Italy and parts of France are served from the ports of Tarragona and Vado.”
According to Moorthamers, the season is going well, with demand at a good level. “Traditionally, this is the time when you see the market picking up again after the summer holidays,” she said, “so we are preparing for the second part of the season. The green crop from New Zealand is lower this year, with yields returning to normal after two exceptional years. For SunGold, volumes are still increasing, with orchards still coming into full production.”
