Global Coalition of Fresh Produce Leaders Address the Global Shipping Challenge

Six years after COVID-19 rocked global supply chains, the fresh produce industry continues to face systemic volatility, including geopolitical shocks, shifting trade flows, and unreliable shipping schedules. These stresses affect shipping rates, capacity, reliability, and the integrity of perishable cargo.

Earlier this month, at Asia Fruit Logistica, the Global Coalition of Fresh Produce brought together a panel of experts to explore how the industry can collaborate to boost transparency, fairness, and efficiency in global fresh produce shipping.

Moderated by Ron Lemaire of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), the conversation seamlessly moved from “Which challenges are we facing today?” to “What would a resilient model for fresh produce logistics look like?” and finally to “What can we do, concretely, to make this vision a reality?”

The discussion culminated in the presentation of the Coalition’s Charter of Good Shipping Practices.

What Stood Out

Greg Palmer, Vice President, Trade and Market Development at the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA) and Chair of the Global Coalition of Fresh Produce, highlighted widespread industry concern over the reliability of getting produce to the final receiver.

“One of the biggest challenges that we continue to see is reliability of shipping partners. Lack of product on shelf has had a massive impact all the way down to the end consumer, who may decide to buy non-fresh fruits and vegetables, or even highly processed foods, instead.”

Palmer noted that, at the same time, the Coalition has observed a desire for high-frequency movements of fresher produce in Asia.

“To ensure timely, high-quality arrivals, the Coalition is developing a voluntary Charter of Good Shipping Practices that prioritizes fresh produce cargo in maritime logistics,” he said.

Ling Ma, Product Director at Goodfarmer Group (China), stated that for importers, proactive risk-management frameworks must be put in place instead of reacting passively to problems.

“Logistics reliability has become a key criterion in purchasing decisions. Goodfarmer now evaluates its shipping service providers for their temperature-control capability, on-time performance, container rollover records and so on, to choose which provider we will use for our products.”

Robert Mant, Vice President, Global Reefer Sales and Business Development at Kuehne + Nagel, emphasized that logistics has now become a central topic, with customers questioning their sourcing because of the reliability of logistics.

“Clearly there’s a paradigm shift in this, and we should all take that on board now,” he added.

Werner van Rooyen, COO of the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum (FPEF) of South Africa and leader of the Working Group on Logistics of the Southern Hemisphere Fruit Alliance (SFA), said that best shipping practices can serve as a guideline to ensure fairness and transparency in dealings between players in the logistics chain.

“I think it’s critically important that you have some sort of benchmark to work from and try and future-proof the system in a sustainable way,” he added.

Lemaire highlighted successful transparency programs outside of the logistics sphere, such as the United Kingdom’s Groceries Supply Code of Practice and the Canada Grocery Code, that keep all players in supply chains accountable. He questioned whether such a scheme could work in shipping.

Marc Evrard of Belgian Fruit Valley agreed, adding that the recent consolidation in the shipping industry has exacerbated the need to ensure accountability of the bigger groups.

Ma concurred that there is a need to work out clear rules to assign responsibility for damage to fresh cargo that cannot be attributed to force majeure, with Mant adding that there also needs to be open and transparent dialogue on the real reasons for delays.

Much of it comes down to taking responsibility, as Evrard pointed out:

“As long as every participant in the supply chain—whether it’s a grower, exporter, importer, distributor, retailer, forwarder, or shipping line—takes responsibility and is committed, a lot of the issues we are currently facing would not be there. All of us should be upheld to the same standards.”

From Dialogue to Commitment: Towards a Charter of Good Shipping Practices

Summing up, Lemaire stressed that the concept of a charter is not “an us-against-them conversation,” emphasizing that it is a question of an integrated framework that brings everyone forward together to improve reliability, accountability, and cost savings.

The Global Coalition of Fresh Produce has been working intensively on the concept with its members since early 2026: a fundamental, structural set of shared values, principles, or guidelines to underpin, guide, and support behavior and processes throughout logistics chains.

Upholding the central principles of collaboration, transparency, and integrity, the Charter will foster mutual understanding, build trust, and strengthen partnerships among trading partners.

By offering a common language, the Charter will begin to break down silos and align actions with the shared goal of efficient and resilient global logistics chains, with less waste and fair rewards for everyone.