65 procent of European kiwis through Zeebrugge

If you buy a kiwi, odds are that it will have a home compostable Zespri sticker on it. The New Zealand kiwifruit marketer sells a staggering 3 billion kiwis a year in Europe. 'The lion’s share still comes from New Zealand', says Nikki Johnson, Zespri's General Manager for Europe. '65 per cent of the kiwis destined for the European market come by ship to Zeebrugge.'

Radar Business English Perishables Zeebrugge

What are you working on?

''Zespri is 100 percent owned by current and former kiwifruit growers and we work with growers in New Zealand, as well as with growers in other parts of the world. Our mission: to supply fresh, tasty and nutritious kiwis the whole year round. The company’s core is still in “kiwi land” New Zealand, where we are set to produce over 205 million trays this year. In addition, our Zespri production sites in Southern Europe, Korea and Japan are responsible for 29 million trays. This geographical distribution allows us to provide customers with kiwifruit the whole year round.'

'Zeebrugge is our main European logistics hub. We handle 65 per cent of our European imports in our distribution centre there, forwarding the fruit to the central and Northern European countries. To serve southern Europe, we have further hubs in Tarragona in Spain and Vado in northern Italy. Our environmental footprint would be much too big if it all came here and then got trucked to southern Europe. We are very conscious about that.'

©Zespri

What is the added value of Port of Antwerp-Bruges?

''Our official cooperation with the port of Zeebrugge started in 1985. But then I was told that we’d been unloading New Zealand ships there earlier than that. Originally, they were all refrigerated ships with just kiwis in their holds. These days we use refrigerated ships mainly at the start of the season and for supplying Southern Europe. The rest comes in refrigerated containers where the kiwis get “put to sleep” for their month-long journey.'

In 2018, we renewed our partnership with Belgian New Fruit Wharf (BNFW) for a further ten years. That means we are long-term partners.

Nikki Johnson,Zespri General Manager Europe

©Zespri

''But we’re also well aware that fruit from the other side of the world does have an impact. Though ocean freight is more environmentally friendly than air freight, here too we are working with shipping companies to reduce our carbon impact per piece of fruit through increased efficiency with vessels, and we have also successfully completed several biofuel powered charters. In recent years, together with Belgian New Fruit Wharf (BNFW), we have developed an enormous expertise in the field of storing, packaging and shipping our kiwis to our European customers, all with a view to guaranteeing the quality of our products.'

About Zespri

Zespri is set to distribute 67 million trays of New Zealand kiwifruit in Europe this year, equivalent to 235,000 tons.
65 per cent of European production goes through Zeebrugge.
Belgian New Fruit Wharf employs between 350 and 450 workers at peak times, including the dockers loading and unloading the ships and containers.

©Zespri

What does the future hold in store?

'In 2018, we renewed our partnership with BNFW for a further ten years, a continuation of our long-term partnership. Moreover, kiwi consumption continues to increase, with consumers putting a strong and growing emphasis on health and wellbeing, making our product a perfect fit. In addition to the familiar green, sweet- tangy kiwis, the golden and gloriously sweet SunGold™ variety is very popular. And we have recently agreed to commercialise a new variety: the red kiwi, which we will grow in Italy and bring to the European markets in the near future. As Zespri continues to innovate and expand its reach, it remains committed to providing fresh, nutritious kiwis to consumers across Europe all year round.'

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