The MANZANILLO EXPRESS, a Hapag-Lloyd vessel, has arrived in Hong Kong from Valparaiso with a record number of Chilean cherry containers onboard.
Some 1,222 active reefer containers were discharged in Hong Kong on 31 December.
The ship is part of the carrier’s seasonal CHERRY EXPRESS service, which runs from November to February.
General Manager of Hapag-Lloyd’s Hong Kong office, Axel von Bloh, said: “Our customers appreciate the HOT BOX arrangement in Hong Kong, which allows our customers to pick up the container immediately after it has been offloaded from the vessel. This service enables the cherry containers to be transported across the boundary and into consumer markets all over South China in only a few hours after landing in Hong Kong.”
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The high-quality cherry from Chile is a popular gift in Mainland China in the lead up to Chinese New Year. The unique HOT BOX service makes Hong Kong the main gateway for thousands of containers every year.
Group Managing Director of Modern Terminals Ltd, Horace Lo, said: “Hong Kong is a Free Port, enabling the fast dispatch of containers from the terminals. This makes Hong Kong the preferred gateway for many perishable high-value products.”
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The Hong Kong Seaport Alliance has 8,000 reefer plugs available, the most of any port in South China, making Hong Kong the perfect transshipment centre if containers need to be connected to other regions of Asia.
Containers discharged from MANZANILLO EXPRESS could exit the gates of Modern Terminals, a member of the Hong Kong Seaport Alliance, only 20 minutes after being offloaded from the vessel, thanks to the HOT BOX arrangement.
