SEA-invest puts its infrastructure at the disposal of Zespri for the storage, quality control and packaging of kiwifruit that arrives from New Zealand in Europe via the port of Zeebrugge. Around 130,000 tonnes of Zespri kiwifruit is imported through Zeebrugge every year. From Zeebrugge, it is then distributed to 25 markets across Europe.
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The port of Zeebrugge has been a kiwi-hub ever since the mid-eighties.
The port receives 21 ships during the season, each with 5-7000 tonnes of kiwis. The season runs from May to December. The facility in the port employs 150-220 during the New Zealand season.
The front storage rooms are used to store the fruit as it is taken off the ship, this makes the turnaround time for the ship very short. It is then moved to other storage rooms before being checked for quality and packed. Between 40-60 trucks leave the port each day to deliver the kiwis throughout Europe.
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Random checks are done on pallets to give feed back to growers and packhouses in New Zealand. They are then given penalties or incentives according to the quality. If the kiwis have not been sold within 3 weeks of arriving at the port they will be re-checked for quality and any not making the mark will go for juicing, cosmetics, biomass etc.
The coldstore can hold 1800 pallets at capacity and are stored at -0.5°C.
SEA-invest are currently only packing green kiwi, the SunGold sold out 2 weeks ago. This new gold variety, bred to combat the devastating Psa disease has proved very popular among European consumers.
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