Between November 17 and January 5, trips will take place to China, the gateway country to the Asian region, where the Lunar New Year will be celebrated on February 10, an occasion on which cherries are one of the main protagonists.
The Hapag-Lloyd ship “Cautín” inaugurated the peak season for cherry exports at Terminal Pacífico Sur Valparaíso, which is part of the ALX1/AN1/INCA service, which will have 9 ships; to which 7 more ships of the WS6 service and an extra call ship for the penultimate week of the year will be added, thus totaling 18 ships in what is known as “Cherry Express”, which are 22-day maritime voyages between Chile and Asia destined for the eastern market.
Andrés Repetto, TPS Operations Manager, commented that "For this season we have prepared well in advance, especially so that the scheduling of operations with the ships that load cherries is very fluid and with updated information at all times, since one of the main advantages of our Terminal is the reliability that we deliver in terms of the
"We are looking for a more reliable and safe operation of our vessels. Our entire human and technological team is ready to make this a very successful season, in which we have a greater number of vessels in the Cherry Express service than last year, which in turn are vessels with a greater capacity than in previous seasons."
For his part, Iván Marambio, president of Frutas de Chile (formerly Asoex), pointed out: “We are starting a new season of Chilean cherry exports. This is a particularly challenging season due to adverse weather conditions. Therefore, it is a difficult season to estimate, as volumes vary from week to week. However, what we are very clear about is that we will send high-quality fruit so that consumers can enjoy the sweet taste of our cherries. Thanks to Cherry Express, our fresh cherries will be on the Chinese market in just over 20 days, which ensures their freshness. Within the next few days we will release a new estimate that better takes into account the effects of the recent rains.”
Chilean cherries are highly sought after in the Asian market due to the Lunar New Year celebrations, which will take place on February 10 in much of Asia.
