Leading New Zealand apple exporters are warning that the biggest issue facing them as harvesting gets underway is the lack of shipping space.
John Thompson, export manager at Fresh NZ 2000 told freshinfo: "Both the groups that take bulk shipments to Europe have reduced their commitments for 2004 and this alongside the large crop will place demand on containers that is greater than the current supply."
Thompson reported that major shipping lines had not yet confirmed volumes of containers to exporters despite those exporters having signed contracts with shipping lines. "I think a lot of exporters will not be happy with their allocated volumes when informed," said Thompson.
The lack of shipping space can be put down to several factors. There is a world-wide shortage of reefer space and so costs are increasing in a segment of the shipping market that had been experiencing decline for many years. There is also demand from emerging markets.
"A healthy Russian trade for bananas and citrus is driving the increased costs and we are seeing increases of 10-30 per cent," said Clive Durand, general manager international at Turners & Growers. "Also everyone is targeting Europe at the moment because of the value of the euro, so North America is less of a focus for South American exporters. This is creating longer voyage times for vessels to Europe rather than to the US."
The nature of fruit-growing also makes it hard for growers to give early commitment to allow charters to be booked in advance with any degree of confidence and so they can lose out to other service users, for example the NZ dairy and meat industries. Thompson reported a record kill for meat in New Zealand is ongoing.
"The bottom side of this shipping dilemma is that a lot of the later fruit - Braeburn - may be shipped late which means late arrival into the market," warned Thompson.
Durand forecasts that until the crop is all gathered in, it is extremely difficult to gauge how tight the shipping situation will be. "People are talking about a 20 million carton export crop but that is only a possibility," he said. "There probably will be spot shortages of shipping availability at certain times, but it is hard to tell when the shortages will occur."
Both Fresh NZ and Turners & Growers are confident that they will not experience difficulty in finding shipping space.
"As far as Fresh NZ is concerned, we are happy that our total shipping needs will be met and our customer base can expect timely and full delivery of their orders," said Thompson.
And Durand reported: "We are fully contracted and I don’t believe we will have shortage of shipping space."
Meanwhile, the season has already begun in New Zealand with early varieties Sunrise and NZ Beauty shipped to the Pacific Islands this week.
The last couple of weeks have brought ample rainfall and according to Paul Browne, chief executive at Pipfruit New Zealand, what is now required are some cooler night-time temperatures to boost fruit colouring. "The size profile has shaped up well, and when you get a crop of this volume, you also get a sizes in all profiles," said Browne. Gala should experience larger sizes than last season and estimates also indicate that the largest volume increase in production is on Braeburn and this is due to the good size profile and condition of the crop on trees.
Brown reported that the season is about a week behind last year and according to Thompson, production in Hawkes Bay and Nelson will start simultaneously.
First arrivals into the UK are not expected until the first week of April.
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