Sea-invest’s BNFW terminal in the port of Zeebrugge has seen the arrival of the first ship loaded with Zespri kiwifruit from New Zealand in 2025, marking the official start of the European kiwifruit season.
After a month-long journey from New Zealand through the Panama Canal, the ship docked in Zeebrugge on Monday morning, heralding a busy fruit season in which new fruit will arrive every week until October.
Over the course of the season, the port will handle 165,000 pallets – a total of around two billion kiwis for the European market.
Zeebrugge is the largest transhipment port for fruit
As the European hub for fruit, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges plays an important role in the global supply chain for fresh produce. An estimated 65% of the kiwis destined for Europe from Zespri, one of the world’s largest marketers of the fruit, are handled in Zeebrugge, where both conventional (palletized) goods and refrigerated containers can be handled.
The port’s infrastructure includes 175,000 pallet spaces for chilled and frozen products – the equivalent of a temperature-controlled area of almost 50 soccer pitches. In 2024, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges handled 14.5 million tons of perishable goods, including 1 billion kg of fruit.
Upon arrival, the kiwis are quickly unloaded, sorted, packed and subjected to quality control before being transported onwards. From Zeebrugge, the fruit reaches most European supermarkets within 48 hours by rail, barge and truck.
