Cherry season flies lower than years prior

Summer brings warmer weather, longer days and, typically, an abundance of ripe, red cherries to the Pacific Northwest. While this year’s cherry season saw a smaller harvest, which brought unique challenges to the trans-Pacific trade lane, industry stakeholders continue to see an irreplaceable market in air freight transport of cherries. “The whole process is really fast,” Becky Reilly, manager for market development at Bryant Christie — export consultants for the California Cherry Association — told Air Cargo World . “California cherries can be on shelves in Asian markets within 96 hours of when they're picked … Cherries don’t ship by sea, ever. It’s just too slow for maintaining that quality, so there’s a lot of reliance on air freight.” Cherry season starts in April for California growers and lasts about six to eight weeks, Reilly said. In Washington state, cherry season starts later in the summer in mid-May, Tom Green, manager of air cargo operations and development at Seattle-Tacoma (SEA) airport, shared. [caption id="attachment_57131654" align="alignright" width="486"] Cherry harvest and processing in Linden CA, May 19, 2021. Photo Brian Baer[/caption] “Cherry season is sort of that signature product export season, [it’s] a very iconic commodity for the Pacific Northwest,” Green said. “One thing about cherries that always makes it kind of exciting is that it isn't a year-round thing.” Weather extremes affect US cherry harvest The Washington cherry industry has about doubled in the past decade, Green estimated, based on export volumes. In 2021, SEA exported around 12,500 tonnes of cherries . California saw record cherry exports in 2021 as well, Reilly said, with around 10.5 million boxes harvested. This summer’s harvest numbers, however, have been smaller. Washington had a later bloom due to cold weather and California’s trees are coming off a year of record-high temperatures that didn’t produce as much fruit overall. The California cherry export market varies based on the size and price of cherries, Reilly said. Canada is a key destination, but it’s a more price-conscious market and therefore sees smaller cherries. Cherries that fly to Asian markets — particularly Japan, Korea and Vietnam — must be larger and more premium fruits. Historically, Asian carriers would send charter planes specifically to collect cherry exports from the Pacific Northwest, but SEA is missing its usual cherry charters this summer, Green said. Instead, carriers like Korean Air and Asiana are utilizing widebody passenger aircraft, like the 777, to carry cherries across the Pacific. “It’s really just a ramped-up participation from our scheduled carriers that are here with us year-round,” Green said. Tariffs weigh down cherry exports California cherries have also seen a shrinkage in the China market over the past few years, particularly due to high tariffs, Reilly said. “[The California Cherry Board] is actually no longer running any promotions there, just because of the challenges with higher tariff rates ,” she said. SEA is also missing key connections to China in its regular flight schedule, Green said. “We’ve recovered quite a number of our Asia paths, but not all,” he said, noting that Hong Kong as a route has not been available to or from SEA since the start of the pandemic. Instead, cherry charters are moving closer to the growers. The smaller Moses Lake / Grant County airport (MWH) in Central Washington sees about 15-25 cherry charters per season, Jeff Akridge, president of the Columbia Pacific Aviation group, told Air Cargo World. MWH is a strategic location for cherry exports due to its open airspace and lower operating costs, Akridge explained. However, MWH has “shown in the past several years that they can, on a temporary basis, provide enough infrastructure to bring cherries to the airport, load them on a on a charter freighter and send them out,” Green said. Cool-chain crucial During a typical season, MWH sees about 1,500 tonnes of cherries and the charters are primarily from China Eastern, but the airport sees other carriers as well, Akridge said. Cool-chain infrastructure remains crucial in cherry export, Reilly said. “The industry likes to say they have the best cold chain in the business, they've really invested a lot to maintain the quality of those cherries as they're making it to markets worldwide,” she said. While smaller airports like MWH can provide closer connections and less congestion than hubs like SEA, having cold-chain facilities and technology nearby is key, Green said. This article has been updated to correct the tonnage of cherry exports from SEA and carriers who export from SEA.

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