Zespri’s first charter shipment of the 2024 New Zealand kiwifruit season has departed the Port of Tauranga bound for Shanghai.
The vessel Kowhai, named by Zespri in 2020, carries 700,000 trays - around 2500 tonnes of Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit and 15 containers of Zespri RubyRed for customers in China.
The Kowhai, and the season’s second charter the Solent Star, are expected to reach Shanghai at the end of March.
It is the first of 63 charter vessels Zespri expects to use this season to ship around half the expected 193 million trays - or almost 695,000 tonnes, of Green, SunGold and RubyRed Kiwifruit - to more than 50 countries.
That’s up from the 51 charter vessels used last season.