Rotterdam Fruit Wharf (RFW) and shipping company Seatrade have entered into a contract for twenty visits of conventional refrigerated ships with fruit from South Africa. The first ship, the Caribbean Mermaid, is currently unloading 2000 pallets (=2000 tonnes) of grapefruit at the RFW terminal in the Merwehaven area. Following this, 2000 tonnes of onions, carrots and cabbage from Zeeland and Noord-Brabant will be added to the cargo for St. Petersburg. The loading ports in South Africa are Durban and Cape Town, Port of Rotterdam said in its press release.
In previous years the cargo was handled in Vlissingen. The biggest receiver of the fruit is Total Product, established in the Merwehaven like RFW.
Conventional refrigerated ships such as the Caribbean Mermaid carry the pallets of fruit in large refrigerated holds below deck. There are usually several dozen reefer containers on deck. Reefer containers can also be transported on full-container ships and handled at the specialised container terminals.