9,000 tons of cherries imported to China from Chile

The first shipment of Chilean cherries are unloaded at the Nansha Port of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on Thursday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Up to 9,000 tons of Chilean cherries have been distributed to supermarkets across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, after the first shipment of the fruits were unloaded at the Nansha Port of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on Thursday.

The cherries were shipped under a one-stop fast cold chain transportation from foreign farms to the domestic market, according to the port operator.

Customs clearance procedure and efficiency for imported fruits at the Nansha Port has been dramatically optimized, with containers being directly trucked to cold chain warehouses inside the Nansha container terminals and completing a one-stop service for inspection, disinfection and nucleic acid testing, according to the port company.

The Guangzhou Nansha International Cold Chain Project, authorized as an imported fruit designated inspection field, has officially started to handle inspection for imported fruits since October.

Covering an area of 208,000 square meters, the project plans to build up six cold chain warehouses with a storage capacity of 460,000 tons.

The first shipment of Chilean cherries are unloaded at the Nansha Port of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on Thursday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Exports of Chilean cherries have increased steadily to China, which has become the largest export market of such fruits. Nearly 90 percent of Chilean cherries are exported to the Chinese market each year, according to the port company.

It takes only 21 days to directly ship Chilean cherries from the Port of San Antonio of Chile to Nansha, thanks to constantly optimized customs clearance, wharf infrastructure and logistics supporting services, according to the shipment operator Maersk.

Nansha has become the port with the largest import volume of cherries in China, with the import volume of Chilean cherries being expected to exceed 7,000 containers before the Chinese Lunar New Year, up nearly 300 percent year-on-year, according to the port company.

The first shipment of Chilean cherries are unloaded at the Nansha Port of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on Thursday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The first shipment of Chilean cherries are unloaded at the Nansha Port of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, on Thursday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]