New Zealand kiwi season kicks off with first shipment heading to Japan
The first shipment of the 2023 New Zealand kiwifruit season has departed the Port of Tauranga carrying around 2,500 tons (more than 600,000 trays) of Zespri SunGold kiwifruit to customers in Japan.
The Southampton Star is the first of 53 charter vessels Zespri will use this season to deliver around 145 million trays of green, SunGold and RubyRed kiwifruit to more than 50 countries this season. The vessel is expected to reach Tokyo in early April before sailing onto Kobe, Japan, according to a news release.
Charter vessels will be responsible for delivering around 72 million trays of this season’s New Zealand-grown fruit to Zespri’s global consumers. This season’s charter program includes two vessel services to the West Coast in the U.S., three services to northern Europe, seven to the Mediterranean and 41 to Asia. An additional 73 million trays of kiwifruit will be shipped using container services, according to the release.
“Demand for our fruit remains strong, and with this season’s harvest ramping up over the coming weeks, we’ll soon move into main pack where the bulk of our fruit is harvested,” Zespri acting Chief Global Supply Officer Jason Te Brake said in the release. “It’s a proud moment seeing the first ship taking our fruit to customers and consumers but especially this year given it’s been such a challenging start to the year for some of our growers.”
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Te Brake added that after a challenging 2022 and a tough start to 2023 because of adverse weather events, the start of the new season represented a reset for the industry.
What’s more, lower fruit volumes and having more labor available this season provides an opportunity for the industry to focus on improving fruit quality, which will play a key role in returning more value to growers and communities, Te Brake said in the release.
“The industry’s Quality Action Plan was launched in October last year and has seen significant collaboration throughout the entire industry to ensure we deliver great quality fruit for our customers and consumers in the 2023 season, as well as in the years ahead,” Te Brake said in the release. “That starts with ensuring that we’re doing everything we can to have a great harvest and looking after the fruit throughout the supply chain.”
One of the key principles within the Quality Action Plan, according to the release, is assessing fruit flow decision-making from end-to-end.
“While Covid-19 caused significant shipping disruption in recent years, we’re expecting a more stable shipping environment this season, with better transit times delivering fruit to markets,” Te Brake said in the release. “With our first charter vessel now on the way to market, we’re looking forward to our shipping program ramping up in the weeks ahead and continuing to work with our shipping partners to provide consistently high-quality Zespri Kiwifruit for our customers and consumers to enjoy this season.”
