On 26 June, a vessel carrying 25 tons of clementines arrived in Hong Kong, marking the first ever shipment of Chilean clementines to China. MSC proudly enabled this historic achievement, connecting Asia and Latin America via the INCA Service.

This follows another recent milestone journey that saw MSC carry the first ever shipment of Colombian avocados to Shanghai.

New horizons

Citrus represent a prominent category among Chilean agricultural products. The country is the second largest exporter of citrus in the Southern hemisphere after South Africa, growing several varieties of the fruit, with the main four being navel oranges, lemons, clementines and mandarins, available from May through November.

MSC’s pioneering shipment followed the May 14 announcement by China’s General Administration of Customs, officially allowing for citrus fruits coming from Chile and meeting all the phytosanitary requirements to be exported to China.

While the main destination has traditionally been the United States, the opening of the Chinese market signals an incredible opportunity for Chile, providing an alternative to the country’s agricultural industry and opening the way to a potentially significant boost for citrus-growing regions locally.

MSC’s advantage

MSC is a world leader in reefer cargo services, offering tailor-made end-to-end refrigerated transport solutions. Ours is one of the world’s largest and most advanced reefer container fleets: in 2019 alone, we shipped over 1.8 million reefer containers.

Our customers know they can trust MSC to keep their food safe and in top quality from pick-up to delivery, anywhere in the world. For perishable cargo – either frozen (e.g. meat, fish, ice cream) or chilled (e.g. fruit and vegetables), MSC uses many advanced and innovative reefer technologies, systems and services with partners such as MaxTend, Liventus, Purfresh, Carrier Transicold and MCI.

MSC also proudly works very closely with local citrus growers, farmers and producers to understand their specific needs in order to bring them tailor-made services, ultimately opening up new possibilities in helping them grow their businesses.

Discover more

We specialise in delivering refrigerated cargo quickly and safely to various destinations around the world.

If you’re interested in our end-to-end reefer services, visit www.msc.com/reefer or www.msc.com/fruit for more details on how we transport fresh fruit and vegetables. Alternatively, please contact your local agency and our experts will be happy to help.