Bumper green and gold cargo

Port staff worked around the clock to load the 9000 pallets of kiwifruit on to the MV Knud Lauritzen. Picture / Alan Gibson

New Zealand's largest shipment of kiwifruit leaves Tauranga today, destined for the fruit shops and supermarkets of Europe.

Nearly 90 million kiwifruit were loaded on to the Danish ship MV Knud Lauritzen at the Port of Tauranga on Monday and yesterday.

The 165m vessel, one of the four largest refrigerated ships in the world, is full to capacity with 9000 pallets, or 2.6 million trays, of Zespri green, gold and organic kiwifruit.

It is scheduled to arrive at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge in 26 days.

Zespri said the shipment reflected the growth of the industry. "We've got the volume [of fruit] to actually fill this vessel," said logistics manager Mike Knowles.

Zespri's previous shipments to Europe and Japan have averaged 5000 pallets, while New Zealand's first export shipment of kiwifruit, in 1984, was 2500 pallets.

Mr Knowles said the shipment of 9000 pallets was possible for several reasons.

Lauritzen Cool, owners of the MV Knud Lauritzen, had offered the vessel and the timing was right to get the fruit to Europe for the northern summer.

Zespri, which has 10 suppliers working with packhouses in the Bay of Plenty, Northland, Hawkes Bay, Gisborne and Nelson, had also been able to source the fruit.

Five cranes lifted the vitamin C-laden cargo on to the ship, which also carries bananas from Ecuador and oranges from California.

They worked non-stop from 7am Monday to 3pm yesterday, placing 7000 pallets below deck in five storeys of compartments and 2000 pallets in containers above deck.

Zespri growers have picked and packed 50 per cent of this year's green crop of 65 million trays and 85 per cent of the gold crop of 15 million trays.