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Posted by Dale Crisp
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16 Oct, 2026
NEW Zealand kiwifruit marketer and distributor Zespri is approaching the end of a very successful export season with the departure of the final chartered reefer ship for China.
Whero sailed from Tauranga for Shanghai on Wednesday [14 October] with more than 1.7 million trays, or 6,120 tonnes of Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit for consumers in China. It’s the 57th charter vessel for Zespri to help deliver a record crop of around 225 million trays (810,000 tonnes) this season, with final container shipments to depart New Zealand in the coming weeks.
Zespri CEO Jason Te Brake said the sailing of Whero marked an important milestone as the industry enters the final stages of the New Zealand season.
“The departure of our final charter is an opportunity to recognise the significant effort from growers, post-harvest, logistics partners and our teams around the world to deliver another large crop to consumers in more than 50 markets,” Mr Te Brake said.
“Sales have been encouraging in Europe, while North America continues to perform well. In Greater China, our in-market teams worked hard to capitalise on the recent Mid-Autumn Festival where we saw strong sales, with fruit from Whero due to arrive in market in the coming weeks.
“Despite a more challenging global trading environment and a more competitive fruit category, demand for Zespri Kiwifruit has remained strong across many of our key markets, helping deliver strong value back to growers and shareholders.
“The strong demand we've seen this season reflects the value consumers are placing on high-quality, nutritious fruit and the efforts of our teams and partners across the supply chain. It has also been supported by the rollout of our new global brand platform, Grown for Good, across our core markets, which champions natural nutrition and the role fruit can play in supporting healthier lives.”
With the New Zealand season drawing to a close, Zespri says its focus is turning to ensuring a smooth transition to its Northern Hemisphere-grown fruit and preparing for the 2027 season.
“We’re expecting around 36 million trays (129,000 tonnes) from our Northern Hemisphere growing regions this season. This includes 28 million trays (more than 100,800 tonnes) of Zespri SunGold and a further eight million trays (28,800 tonnes) of Zespri Green Kiwifruit, with the transition to our Northern Hemisphere SunGold fruit getting underway in Europe in the coming weeks,” Mr Te Brake said.
“Working with our Northern Hemisphere partners to provide our consumers with a 12-month supply is a key part of our strategy for maximising long-term value back to growers.”
The near-conclusion of the New Zealand season will relieve pressure on the principal carrier of containerised kiwifruit to east coast North America and Europe, CMA CGM’s PAD service, which is frequently obliged to vary its Australian east coast port calls to meet crucial load dates in Tauranga.
Accordingly it appears PAD vessel Mieke Schulte has switched services in Melbourne, to load empties for China where , for at least two round voyages, it will become the sixth ship in the ANL/COSCO Shipping/OOCL’s ACX/A3X weekly peak season service from Shanghai and Shekou to Melbourne and Port Botany.
