Watermelon opens in Adana in mid-April under low tunnel and finishes in Şanlıurfa and Diyarbakır in September. It is a volume product moved in bulk, and the two things that determine whether a load arrives are loading pattern and temperature.
Loading: watermelon is shipped either in bulk with straw dunnage or in bins, and bulk loads take handling damage in the bottom two layers if the pattern is wrong. We load bins for anything beyond a five-day transit.
Temperature: this is the most chilling-sensitive product we ship. Below +10 °C the flesh develops pitting and a loss of flavour that does not appear until the melon is cut. Reefers are set at +12 °C, not lower, and buyers who ask for +5 °C are told why we will not do it.