Recently, with the completion of unloading operations of one chartered cherry vessel, the seasonal direct shipping route between the Dalian Port and South America of Liaoning Port Group – the “Express Line” of cherries – was successfully concluded this year. Through the mode of “container + bulk cargo”, the Dalian Port has imported 25,000 tons of Chilean cherries so far this year, an increase of 150% compared with the same period last year.

As the star of winter fruits, cherries have been favored by consumers in recent years, whose market demand has kept rising, and become the representative of imported fruits in China. In order to grasp the market opportunity, Liaoning Port Group officially launched the container “Express Line” of South American cherries on January 11th this year, importing whole ships of cherries to the Dalian Port through direct procurement by chartered ships. Some of the cherries were transported to South Korea via the Dalian Port.

As fresh fruits are not easy to store, in order to achieve “zero waiting” for the transfer of imported cherries from the port, Dalian Container Terminal Company provides customers with “ship-side pick-up” service and opens up a “green channel” in and out of the port. It ensures that cherries can be transported to the cold chain warehouse immediately after being discharged from the ship, which guarantees the fast distribution of imported fresh fruits from the port.

It is understood that through the seasonal direct shipping express line of South America, it takes 22 days for the arrival of cherries from Chile to the Dalian Port, which saves 18 days compared with the traditional transit mode. After being discharged from the ship, cherries are directly transported to the first-level wholesale markets in Northeast and North China, thus achieving one-stop fast cold chain transportation from farm to market.

In recent years, focusing on the construction of cold chain logistic distribution center, the Dalian Port has given full play to the advantages of superior port location, perfect cold chain logistic service network and convenient customs clearance conditions to boost the cold chain business, and the imported fruit distribution business is at the leading level of major coastal ports in China. In 2022, the import of fruits at the Dalian Port increased by 23% year-on-year. Among them, as the main variety, imported bananas accounted for about 35% of the national market share, ranking second in China.