The Chinese market received the first and only -to date- container loaded with Chilean cherries to be transported by sea. The cargo container, linked to Garces Fruit, traveled aboard a Maersk vessel that departed at the end of October from the Port of San Antonio.
“With great enthusiasm and energy, part of the Garces Fruit team in China moved to the Port of Shanghai to receive the first shipment of our cherries that traveled by sea to that country,” the agricultural company reported.
“Led by our manager for the Asian market, Juan Latife, the Garces Fruit representatives welcomed the Maersk Yukon vessel, which sailed from the Port of San Antonio, in the Valparaíso Region,” they added.
In line with the information provided by the company, the container ship was loaded with “a container with cherries of the Black Pearl, Royal Dawn and Rainier varieties and -according to the first reports- they arrived in perfect condition to delight consumers in the Asian giant with their freshness, flavor, sweetness and color. We hope this beginning is a good start for this season.”
The cherry shipment, loaded at San Antonio Terminal Internacional (STI), is not part of one of the 32 port calls linked to vessels of the Cherry Express service that the concessionaire will handle during the 2025-2026 season.
In this regard, the start of this period in San Antonio took place with the departure of the MSC Lome V from STI on November 11, which occurred after loading 500 containers with the Chilean fruit. It is estimated to arrive in China during the first week of December.
Meanwhile, in Valparaíso the season was inaugurated on Wednesday the 12th of this month with the arrival of the HHM Blessing at Site No. 3 of the port facility, which is operated by Terminal Pacífico Sur (TPS). The vessel is expected to arrive in the Asian country on Sunday the 7th of the last month of the year.
At the end of October, the Chilean Fruit Cherry Committee projected that exports for the 2025-2026 season will reach 131 million boxes, which would be a figure similar to the estimate from April of this year and slightly higher than that recorded in the previous period.
