COSCO Shipping Adds New Flagship to South American Route, Frutas de Chile Representative Invited to Christening

On Sept. 20, the new 14,100 TEU vessel COSCO Shipping Chile, ordered by COSCO Shipping Lines, was officially delivered and put into operation at COSCO’s shipyard in Yangzhou. Claudia Soler, executive director of the Chilean Cherry Committee of Frutas de Chile, was invited to formally name the ship, making her the first Chilean to do so for a COSCO vessel.

The naming ceremony was attended by leaders and guests from COSCO Shipping Lines, COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry Co. Ltd., COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou) Co. Ltd. and Frutas de Chile. Sun Yingshui, deputy general manager of COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry, and Zhai Yajun, general manager of COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Yangzhou), each delivered speeches at the event. Following Soler’s ceremonial cord cutting, the new vessel was officially unveiled to the public.

The guests subsequently boarded the vessel and inscribed messages in a dedicated book on the ship’s bridge. Soler sounded the ship’s first horn, marking the beginning of COSCO Shipping Chile’s journey into the future.

At naming ceremonies for new ships, an influential woman is traditionally invited to serve as the ship’s sponsor. The acts of naming the ship, cutting the cord and sounding the horn are considered akin to a mother offering her blessings for her child’s safe and smooth journey ahead. Soler comes from a family with deep roots in Chile’s agricultural industry, playing a key role in both driving and witnessing the growth of the country’s fruit sector. As far back as 1997, a member of Soler’s family was invited to name a new ship, sound its first horn and bestow good wishes. Now, with Soler also invited to name a new vessel, the bond between the Chilean fruit industry and COSCO Shipping has been further strengthened.

COSCO Shipping Chile has an overall length of 335.9 meters, a beam of 51 meters, a maximum deadweight of 144,700 metric tons and a maximum container capacity of 14,100 TEU, making it one of the most competitive container ship types on the current market. The vessel is equipped with 2,100 reefer plugs, ranking among the top in terms of refrigerated container capacity within the COSCO Shipping fleet. Specifically designed for routes between the Far East and South America, COSCO Shipping Chile is poised to become a new mainstay on this route.

As early as 2019, COSCO Shipping Lines pioneered an express shipping service from Chile’s Port of San Antonio to Shanghai. Initially, there were three express voyages per season, transporting 848 containers of cherries. Now, this service has expanded to six voyages per season, carrying nearly 4,000 containers of the fruit. COSCO Shipping Lines has made Shanghai its home port for the South America west coast cherry express service, shifting the traditional flow of goods from using Hong Kong as the destination and redirecting roughly one-third of the market’s cargo to Shanghai. This change has extended the reach of Chilean cherries further into China’s eastern, central and northern regions. Owing to the efforts of COSCO Shipping, the transportation time from Chile to Shanghai has been reduced to just 23 days, allowing Chilean cherries to remain fresh and delicious after crossing the entire Pacific Ocean.

As the weather cools in the Northern Hemisphere, spring is just beginning in Chile, where cherry trees are about to bloom across the country. According to estimates from Frutas de Chile, the country is projected to export 574,000 metric tons of fresh cherries in the upcoming 2024/25 season, representing a 39% year-on-year increase. Of this total, over 521,000 metric tons, equivalent to more than 100 million cartons or approximately 28,000 containers, are expected to be shipped to the Chinese market.

To ensure smooth logistics for the upcoming season, Chile’s cherry industry has made thorough preparations. The industry has worked closely with shipping companies, logistics providers and port operators to guarantee that the hundreds of thousands of metric tons of cherries will arrive in the Chinese market in excellent condition. Chilean cherry exports to China are expected to maintain their growth trajectory in the 2024/25 season, setting yet another new record.

Images: COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry Co. Ltd.