Kiwifruit marketer Zespri recently shipped out the last of this year’s New Zealand kiwifruit, leaving the Port of Tauranga for global markets and bringing a strong season to a close.

The final containers to be sent out, stocked with 735 tonnes of Zespri Green Kiwifruit, are now en route to Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Greater China.

Meanwhile, the final chartered reefer vessel – the Southampton Star - will unload 2,228 metric tons (MT) of kiwifruit in the Japanese cities of Kobe and Tokyo.

According to Zespri’s Chief Global Supply Officer Alastair Hulbert, the number of both chartered vessels and containers used to ship the fruit have increased from last season. 

It was also possible to ship out this year's fruit,  the harvest of which proved to be larger than ever before, at an earlier date than in past years to meet with demand. Hulbert stated Zespri used 49 chartered reefer vessels and 17,829 refrigerated containers to transport around  600,000MT of Zespri SunGold, Green and Red Kiwifruit to more than 50 countries around the world despite the presence of Covid-19.

“The wider supply chain including frontline staff at the Port of Tauranga have worked incredibly hard to ship our record-breaking harvest this season, and embrace the enhanced safety measures put in place to keep our people and communities safe during New Zealand’s response to Covid-19,” he said

Now that the New Zealand season has come to an end, the company will transition to growing partners in other parts of the world such as Korea, Italy, France and Japan. This is part of their strategy to ensure that consumers are provided with a steady supply of kiwis year-round.

The final shipment from New Zealand growers, meanwhile, is expected to be available in all markets by December.