The final shipments of this season's New Zealand-grown kiwifruit have left Port of Tauranga bound for Zespri's global markets, capping another strong season for the New Zealand kiwifruit industry.
The final containers, carrying around 735 tonnes of Zespri Green Kiwifruit, are headed for Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Greater China, while the final chartered reefer vessel – the Southampton Star - will unload 2228 tonnes of kiwifruit in Tokyo and Kobe, Japan.
Zespri's Chief Global Supply Officer Alastair Hulbert said Zespri used 49 chartered reefer vessels and 17,829 refrigerated containers to ship around 157 million class 1 trays – or 600,000 tonnes of Zespri SunGold, Green and Zespri Red Kiwifruit to consumers in more than 50 countries around the world.
Both the number of charter vessels and containers used increased from the previous season and fruit was able to be delivered earlier than normal to meet demand.