First flight of Territory mangoes headed to Hong Kong, South Korea and Dubai

The first export flight of one of the Territory’s most-loved fruits will soon take off, heading to key Asian markets, with plans to grow the market even further.

Territory mangoes will soon be a feature of Asian markets and stalls with the first export flight taking off from Darwin on Friday.

The Cathay Pacific plane — a transformed Boeing 777 with the economy seats taken out — will send about 285 tonnes of Top End produce to South Korea, Hong Kong and Dubai this mango season.

Seaway Logistics NT general manager Rob Hall said the first flight marked an exciting moment for the company and Territory growers.

“It’s been a long journey — I’ve been involved with this since it was really a concept and we picked the bit of land and did all of that,” he said.

Seaway Logistics packed and tagged mangoes ahead of their first overseas shipment. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

The state-of-the art facility at Pak Fresh Handling located at Darwin Airport opened more than two years ago but the global pandemic meant the international supply markets were cut off.

“We’ve had significant challenges in the airfreight space and international markets dropping, closing down and the effect of labour issues through Covid with pickers and packers,” Mr Hall said

The Darwin hub has managed to find a creative way around the worker shortage in packing the produce for export, with grey nomads from Bordertown in South Australia stepping up to help.

“They know how to work, they’re good to be around, they’ve got stories,” Mr Hall said.

“They understand the vision and what we’re doing here and they’re on board — the plan is that they’ll come back every year.”

Seaway Logistics gray nomads from Bordertown, SA packing 40 tonnes of mangoes ahead of their first overseas shipment. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

The facility houses a Vapor Heat Treatment System, which places Australia at “an advantage” to export to places such as South Korea who have strict protocols on produce arriving into the country.

“The greatest thing about it is there’s no other facility really in Australia that’s got a Vapor Heat treatment plant,” Mr Hall said.

“So from a grower’s point of view they have quality control, we can treat it, handle it and put it directly onto the plane and load it so it doesn’t get exposed to the outside elements too much.”

And growers would also benefit financially from the uptake of airfreight.

“It opens up whole new avenues of markets so they can diversify and open up other markets, gives them another avenue and can de-risk their business a bit,” he said.

Seaway Logistics NT general manager Rob Hall with NT Farmers chief executive Paul Burke at the packing store rooms ahead of their overseas shipment. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

Cathay Pacific regional head of cargo Nigel Chynoweth said the company hoped to sustain their relationship between the Territory and key export markets as time went on.

“Mangoes are an iconic Australian fruit loved by consumers across the globe,” he said.

“We are proud to support Northern Territory growers in getting Australian produce into key international markets and continue boosting exports.”

The plan going forward, provided this mango season is a success, will be to increase the number of flights to a larger part of the world — with eyes on the Japanese market next.

Originally published as First flight of Territory mangoes headed to Hong Kong, South Korea and Dubai