Containers
It's the first time that Zespri has transported its kiwis in 40 foot containers. "In the past the kiwis arrived in Zeebrugge in reefer ships, where the entire deck was filled with pallets of kiwi fruit. The line Color Carrier, uses cooled container ships. Every container has around 20 pallets of kiwis and are individually cooled. It mainly has an impact on loading and unloading the ships," she explains.
Double the volume
"The container ship has a much larger capacity. In the past we received around 5,000 pallets through a reefer ship and there are 10,060 pallets on the ship that arrived on Monday. That's more than double. The transit time is now a few days longer than with the reefer ships, as this line has extra stops."
Nele says that the season has been satisfactory so far. "We still have around six weeks of sales for New Zealand SunGold, before we seamlessly move to European SunGold. The season for Green is more difficult, as the demand is large and the supply on the market is quite limited."
For more information:
Nele Moorthamers
Marketing Manager Europe
ZESPRI International ( Europe) NV.
Posthofbrug 10 bus 3
B-2600 Berchem
T + 32 3 201 08 05
F +32 3 201 08 91
nele.moorthamers@zespri-europe.com
www.zespri-europe.com