First citrus of the season heads for Japan

RAY SMUTS
JAPAN here we come! The very first shipment of this season’s South African citrus leaves Durban at week’s end for the Land of the Rising Sun aboard Star Reefers’ specialised reefer ship, Trojan Star.
She has been chartered for eight sailings by the Doukan Group which comprises Dole SA, Katope, Colors Fruit, Sunland, Freshworld and Unifrutti. All fruit is being handled at FPT in Durban.
Heidi Rousseau, South African representative for Star Reefers, says loading the 4 400 pallets commenced on May 11, before the Trojan Star set sail for two ports in the north and south of Japan.
She explains that in-transit sterilisation of the fruit – mandatory in Japan - already gets underway while the vessel is in port and is kept at 0.5C for 12 days of the 17-day voyage, after which the fruit is gradually warmed.
The 11 800-ton Trojan Star, one of the older vessels in the Star Reefers fleet, was built in Germany in 1984 and has a service speed of 21 knots.
Rousseau, who has been closely involved with citrus exports to Japan for the past seven years, says South Africa exported around 100 000 pallets of citrus to Japan last year.