The shipment of cherries to the Chinese market in mid-November will mark the beginning of the 2017-2018 fruit season in the Terminal Pacifico Sur Valparaíso (TPS). The first cherries and sweet cherries to China will embark on the Santa Rita ship of the ASPA service, with the aim of covering the demand from the celebration of the Chinese New Year, next February.
Until mid-January 2018, the country will export around 100,000 tons of cherries, i.e. more than 4,000 containers, through the TPS, a concessionaire of Terminal 1 of Valparaiso. Other products that will be shipped at the beginning of the season are blueberries, with about 70,000 tons; grapes, with around 65,000 tons; avocados, with 58,000 tons, and peaches, with 30,000 tons.
Javier Valderrama, the commercial manager of TPS, said "we are optimistic and very well prepared for the next fruit season, which has a very important proportion of shipments to China. We recently received a new Liebherr mobile crane with the capacity to lift 65 tons and serve Super Post-Panamax ships, which allows us to have first-class equipment to operate with greater efficiency and flexibility."
During the past season shipments increased 79.2% over the previous period, thanks to the completed extension of the berthing front by 120 meters, and a new MSC service to the East Coast of the United States and Europe, which has had a very intensive movement of fruits. In addition, the volumes of regular services such as ASPA and Eurosal also increased.
Terminal Pacifico Sur Valparaiso has established itself as the main point of exit for fruit exports from Chile, concentrating around a third of the total shipments of Chilean fruit.