The first of the season’s kiwifruit exported directly from Gisborne by Zespri swung over the Gisborne wharf at the weekend and onto the ship Whero.
The consignment is bound for Asia, as the local kiwifruit harvest continues fullbore.
The Whero, a 158-metre-long, 25m-wide reefer ship sailing under the flag of Panama, spent a day or two at anchor in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa/Poverty Bay before coming into load on Saturday.
It took away 980 pallets of kiwifruit, bound for Shanghai, and sailed from Gisborne to complete its load in Tauranga.
