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First Italian charter vessel delivers Zespri Kiwifruit to China
Zespri’s first Italian reefer charter vessel has completed its maiden voyage, transporting more than 4000 pallets - 3300 tonnes or 942,000 trays - of Italian-grown SunGold Kiwifruit directly to customers in China in time for Chinese New Year sales.
The Baltic Performer reefer vessel left the Port of Vado Ligure at the end of November from the dock of the Reefer Terminal – one of the largest fruit logistics hubs in the Mediterranean - arriving in the Port of Shanghai on December 22. The three-week transit window effectively halves the transit time of container shipments between Italy and China, Zespri said in a statement.
Zespri executive officer of northern hemisphere supply Nick Kirton said the successful voyage represented a significant milestone for the European kiwifruit industry.
“We first started this process in 2018, with an ambition of establishing a more efficient manner of transporting fruit from our northern hemisphere growing regions to our growing customer base in China.
“We could see the benefits shorter transit times and better temperature management across a single ship rather than multiple containers could bring in terms of improving fruit quality, with a charter vessel service also offering greater certainty at a time when we continue to see congestion and delays within the global shipping container market.”
Kirton said a key aspect of the direct service was the support of the Italian industry through CSO Italy and Fruitimprese and the effort of the Italian Phytosanitary Service to establish a new protocol to enable charter vessels to export kiwifruit from Italy, extending the existing pre-shipping cold treatment protocol.
“There’s been a huge amount of work put into creating this new service over the last four years and we’d like to particularly thank our shipping and logistics partners in Italy - Cool Carriers, the Reefer Terminal in Vado, Tramaco and FRESCO, as well as in China, Shanghai South Port and Sinotrans PFS, and officials from both countries who helped establish a new protocol to support and implement this new direct service.
“While the protocol itself was approved in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has delayed its implementation, with the Baltic Performer the first international fruit charter to enter under the new protocol.
“There’s a lot of excitement at seeing the vessel arrive safely, delivering fruit to our customers and consumers in China in time for their New Year celebrations when we know there’s strong demand for our kiwifruit.”
Kirton said the relationships and partnerships Zespri had formed in Italy reflected the industry’s ability to continue to work together technically and commercially, and privately and publicly.
“The level of commitment to this project highlights the confidence we all share in the growth potential of the kiwifruit industry, and we acknowledge the support and team effort from all parties involved. In particular, we acknowledge the long-term support of our Italian supply partners without whom this project would not have been possible.
“Safely and quickly transporting our fruit to market is critical and a significant element of our industry’s success, and we look forward to more successful charter vessels delivering our northern hemisphere fruit directly to our customers throughout Asia in the years ahead.”
New Zealand consumers spent more in 2022 than in any full year previously through Worldline NZ’s payments network, but the spending pattern was mixed by year-end and the New Year has started in a similar vein.
Consumer spending set a new high in 2022 through Core Retail merchants in Worldline NZ’s payments network (excluding hospitality) reaching $35.93 billion, up 4.7 per cent on 2021 and up 13.6 per cent on 2019. The average transaction size in 2022 was $52.01, up 2.5 per cent from 2021.
In the Bay of Plenty, consumer spending reached $273 million, down 0.2 per cent on 2021 and up 16.3 per cent on 2019.
Worldline NZ’s chief sales officer Bruce Proffit said two of the major economic themes of 2022 – inflation and recovery from lockdowns – could be seen in the figures.
“The average transaction value increased across a wide range of sectors although these increases did not match the 2022 inflation rate, suggesting that shoppers did adjust their spending to meet their budget constraints.
“The removal of lockdowns most strongly influenced the hospitality sector, where spending through Worldline NZ’s network was up 11.9 per cent in 2022, to $10.92 billion. However, this total is marginally below the pre-Covid levels of 2019 (-0.2 per cent), no doubt an impact of there being fewer international visitors.”
Proffit said 2022 ended on a mixed note, which was also the case in the first week of 2023.
“We previously reported spending in the busy six-week pre-Christmas period of 2022 being slightly down on 2021. We can now report a modest increase in spending for the full month of December 2022 over December 2021, which has persisted in the first week of January 2023.”
Consumer spending (excluding hospitality) was $3.92b in December 2022, up 1.5 per cent on December 2021 and up 15.6 per cent on 2019. Within these totals, there was annual spending growth in South Island regions and some North Island regions but lower spending in December in the large North Island regions, relative to a year ago.
Meanwhile, consumer spending in the Core Retail sectors (excluding hospitality) through the network was a little more than $661m in the first seven days of 2023, up 1.6 per cent on January 1 to 7, 2022, and up 19.7 per cent on 2019.
Consumer spending in the Bay of Plenty between January 1 and 7 reached $ 49.7m, down 5.4 per cent, on 2022, but a 15.2 per cent rise on 2019.
Within the hospitality sector, spending in the region totalled $27.8m, up 3 per cent on 2022, and 15.4 per cent on 2019.
ASB Bank is supporting customers and businesses affected by the extreme weather that has battered the Coromandel Peninsula and the East Coast, offering tailored packages including suspension of home loan repayments and emergency overdraft facilities for personal, business, and rural customers.
ASB Central North Island regional manager Barry Coffey said the bank wanted to hear from customers who may need emergency financial assistance as a result of the recent heavy rain, slips, and flooding.
“We know there’s been significant damage in some communities and our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this wild weather. Those affected by flooding and weather damage have a daunting clean up ahead and we hope to help ease the pressure on our customers, even a little, so they can focus on the urgent tasks at hand.”
ASB was supporting its personal, farming, and business customers on a case-by-case basis with a range of emergency assistance measures, including an option to suspend home loan principal repayments for up to three months, overdraft of up to $10,000 for ASB home loan customers and up to $2000 for other ASB personal customers, or other tailored solutions depending on the customer’s circumstances.
It will also offer tailored solutions for eligible ASB business and rural customers including access to working capital of up to $100,000.
Lending criteria and terms apply.
Local businessman Nick Berry is sponsoring the pro prize purse to bring additional big names to today’s Tauranga Half Ironman event.
The Tauranga Half is part of the Fulton Hogan Mount Festival at Pilot Bay on January 21 and will see more than 2000 athletes come together to race across different events including the Pressio Mount Festival Half Marathon, AquaBike and Pilot Bay Swim.
The 2023 race was looking to host more than 700 athletes in the pinnacle event, the Tauranga Half which has been a staple in the Mount Manganui summer calendar since 1990.
Berry, who is the husband of famed New Zealand athlete Hannah Berry (nee Wells), approached the Fulton Hogan Mount Festival of Multisport organising team with an offer to support getting the best in the world to the event. He offered to increase the Tauranga Half’s pro prize money, taking the total prize pool for the January 2023 event to more than $28,000.
“I’ve been so lucky enough to meet so many great people due to my history in the sport as well as Hannah’s role as an elite athlete. This has, fortunately, led to a lot of business for me, so I wanted to give back to the sport, and the Mount Festival was a natural fit given it is in our hometown. I also see how hard these professional athletes work to get to the level they are at, and the costs associated with the sport are high, so I am happy to do my bit to help them in their journey too.”
Julia Tilley, festival director, said she was over the moon with the boost to the Tauranga Half’s pro prize purse commenting.
“Our Kiwi athletes are doing incredibly well on the world stage, to provide them with world-class opportunities on home soil is really special. Pro athletes do it pretty tough to cover their costs. The fact they can race at home against a really solid line up, and even win a little money is really great.”
Tilley said it was likely the multisport events will have the best pro field the event has ever seen.
“Currently there are close to 30 pro men and women set to race, some yet to be announced.”
Kiwis are taking advantage of record-high salaries and considering their career options, according to the latest Trade Me Jobs data.
The Bay of Plenty’s average salary climbed 5 per cent from Q4 2021 to Q4 2022 reaching $67,522.
Trade Me Jobs spokesman Patrick Cairns said the average number of job applications per listing nationwide increased by 38 per cent year-on-year in the quarter ending 31 December.
“Following years of pandemic-fuelled uncertainty in the jobs market, things really turned around in the second half of 2022 with thousands of Kiwi dusting off their CVs and applying for a new role. This will be music to the ears of businesses that have struggled to fill vacancies.”
Tauranga Te Papa Rotary Club is the latest group to throw support behind the foodbank