At 20:09 on 28 August, 5 cases loaded with Canadian cherries, each weighing 126 kg, arrived in Hangzhou by plane (flight JD472). This was the first batch of fresh cargo the Xiaoshan international airport has welcomed since it was recently designated as a port for fruit import and export.
The Assistant manager of the Xiaoshan airport logistics company, Chen Jingyu, said that if the cherries pass the quality inspection tests, the large batch of Vancouver cherries will arrive in Hangzou next week at the earliest. The cherries won't be imported case by case, but airplane by airplane. The range of imported fruit varieties will increase as well. Some examples of other varieties are durian fruit and longan fruit from Thailand and cherries and plums from the US.
In the past, the fresh fruits that were imported and sold in Hangzhou were basically imported from the ports of Shanghai and Hong Kong. Crossing the border here after quality inspections, they would be transported to Hangzhou. In the future, foreign fresh fruits can be imported directly into Hangzhou. After that, they can be redistributed to all the larger markets in Hangzhou. In this way, the consumers can eat fresh imported fruit the day after it arrives. The transport costs become unnecessary and this can influence the price of the fruit positively.
What other fresh imported fruits can the people of Hangzhou expect? At this point, the Xiaoshan airport has already received imports of plants, seeds and seedlings (since 2009), frozen maritime products (since 2014), edible seafood products (since 2016) and fruits (since August this year). As one of the 4 major nationwide designated ports, it has become the most complete designated airport harbour in the Zhejiang province.
