Ahead of Chinese New Year, which will be celebrated on Jan. 22,, a Hapag- Lloyd vessel carrying a record 1,222 Chilean cherry containers arrived in Hong Kong from Valparaiso.

The MANZANILLO EXPRESS vessel arrived on Dec. 31, completing its seasonal Cherry Express service with the highest number of Chilean cherry containers ever discharged in Hong Kong by a single vessel. 

Chilean cherries are 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.

“We know we can trust the reliable and efficient service at the terminals in Hong Kong. Our customers appreciate the HOT BOX arrangement in Hong Kong, which allows them to pick up the container immediately after it has been offloaded from the vessel,” said Axel von Bloh, General Manager of Hapag-Lloyd’s Hong Kong office.

“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,” the executive added. 

With the HOT BOX arrangement, 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.

Hong Kong is the ideal transshipment hub for containers with connections to other parts of Asia. With 8,000 reefer plugs available across the Hong Kong Seaport Alliance, it has the highest number of reefer plugs at any port in South China

“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. It looks like it will be another amazing season for the Chilean cherries in China,” said Horace Lo, Group Managing Director of Modern Terminals Ltd. 

“We congratulate the Exporters in Chile and the Importers in China with the positive results and thank all of them for their confidence in Hong Kong as the freshest gateway to China and the rest of Asia,” the executive added.