Zespri’s first charter shipment of the 2025 New Zealand kiwifruit season has set sail from Tauranga bound for Shanghai.

The vessel Kowhai—named by Zespri in 2020—is carrying 1.2 million trays, or around 5,400 tonnes, of Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit and 16 containers of Zespri RubyRed Kiwifruit for customers in China.

The Kowhai is due to reach Shanghai at the end of March. Zespri’s second charter of the season – the Oriental Iris – also departs this week, bound for Tokyo as the season gets into full swing.

These are the first of 61 charter vessels Zespri will use this season to ship its largest-ever expected crop from New Zealand of 200 million trays, or 720,000 tonnes of Zespri Green, SunGold and RubyRed Kiwifruit to more than 50 markets around the world.

Zespri’s charter program uses refrigerated reefer vessels with fruit stored in holds in the ship's body. This allows the kiwifruit marketer to carry more fruit and provide more certainty by sailing straight to the market without calling on other ports en route.

Zespri CEO Jason Te Brake says the departure of Zespri’s first charter shipment is an exciting time for the industry.

“The season is off to a positive start, and there’s always a buzz around the industry when our first charters depart," Te Brake said. 

“It’s pleasing to see such strong confidence within the industry – customers and consumers want more of our fruit, helping us secure good value for growers. We’ve reached some significant milestones, including taking our fruit to more than 100 million households, and there have been favorable conditions for growing and harvesting this season’s crop," he added. 

“Our focus is on maintaining this momentum and completing a successful harvest, ensuring that we provide high-quality fruit throughout the season."

Te Brake says the industry’s comprehensive pre-season planning process with growers and post-harvesters focused on a good early start to the sales season.

“We’ve continued to see strong demand in recent months for fruit grown in our non-New Zealand growing locations, and this puts us in a strong position as we transition to our New Zealand-grown fruit over the coming weeks.

“Our sales and marketing teams in the market have been working closely with our partners to ensure that we’ve got another year of strong marketing campaigns, with many featuring our iconic KiwiBrothers, and we’re looking forward to rolling these out across the year ahead.”

Charter shipments this season will include three services to Northern Europe, 14 to the Mediterranean, one to North America’s West Coast, and 43 to Asia. The remaining volume will be shipped using container services. 

Photo by Jamie Troughton (Dscribe Media Services)