17 TONS OF BANANAS FORM THE CONTINGENT OF THE FIRST SHIPMENT.

The associations of tomato exporters of the Canary Islands, FEDEX y ACETO, and the Banana Cooperatives of the Canary Islands, COPLACE, have agreed to carry out the first test for sending bananas to the United Kingdom directly and without stopover, using the refrigerated ships hired by the tomato export sector.

In this way, the most suitable means of transport that exists on the market will be used in a shared manner to transport fruit from the Canary Islands to the rest of the European Union.. Both in the conditions that it requires in terms of regularity of departures as well as the speed necessary to be on the market on time..

This first shipment of bananas, He embarked last night at 20:30 hours on the ship “Frío Chikuma”, and they will travel together with the FEDEX and ACETO tomatoes, unloading the fruit at the port of Southampton, United Kingdom, in just 85 hours.

The bananas have been loaded in an independent warehouse since it requires a temperature of 13ºC, unlike tomatoes that are transported at a constant temperature of 8ºC. This first shipment represents a total of seventeen tons of bananas.

The manager of ACETO, Domingo Mendoza, highlights the importance of this agreement since, for the first time, The most relevant agricultural export productions of the Canary Islands cooperate to reduce costs.

In this sense, Mendoza points out that making use of the three refrigerated ships contracted by FEDEX-ACETO, with two weekly departures and one in empty descent rotation to be able to comply with the program, is to take advantage of the most efficient means of transport to transport the fruit to the European markets, To date, there is no other maritime transport offer more competitive than the one used by the Canary Islands export tomato sector..

How will you be remembered, The FEDEX and ACETO associations have litigated against the State for the request for the reimbursement of the transportation aid subsidy for the year 2002, that the Government Delegation has complained to them because they considered that their costs were too high, since –according to the State- There were other shipping companies that did it for a lower amount.

However, The sector maintains that these shipping companies have not offered and do not offer capacity to transport the volume of Canarian fruit., they do not guarantee the cold chain, nor can they comply with a strict schedule of departures and arrivals essential to keep our clients.

This first test of shipping bananas on tomato ships is expected to meet all expectations., that the fruit arrives in optimal conditions and that this contributes to the successful sale of bananas from the islands in the British market.