First Gisborne kiwifruit of season loaded, bound for China

Kiwifruit left Gisborne by ship for the first time this season at the weekend when the reefer ship Whero called in to Eastland Port to load a consignment for China. Photo / Murray Robertson

The first of the season’s kiwifruit exported directly from Gisborne by Zespri swung over the Gisborne wharf at the weekend and onto the ship Whero.

The consignment is bound for Asia, as the local kiwifruit harvest continues fullbore.

The Whero, a 158-metre-long, 25m-wide reefer ship sailing under the flag of Panama, spent a day or two at anchor in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa/Poverty Bay before coming into load on Saturday.

It took away 980 pallets of kiwifruit, bound for Shanghai, and sailed from Gisborne to complete its load in Tauranga.

The reefer ship Whero docked alongside the log ship African Tiger on Saturday. It sailed for Tauranga on Sunday and is ultimately bound for China. Photo / Murray Robertson

Whero is the first of five kiwifruit ships to call here this season.

The Kakariki is scheduled to berth on March 21, followed by the Wild Cosmos on March 27.

Two more kiwifruit shipments are scheduled for mid and late April, and a sixth shipment could be scheduled, a shipping agent said.