Oof. That’s upsetting. Shipping water has got to be one of the least efficient things imaginable. I just assumed they were lying because it’s so common to lie about the geography of your product.
You're not really shipping water, you're shipping plastic bottles with marketing labels. Once you think of it like that it makes more sense. Anyone that is buying Fiji water could already have a reusable bottle and drink from the tap.
You probably meant that as a joke...but suppose they made sure there was a trace of actual Fiji water in the bottle before they filled the bottle with local water could they legally get away with saying its from Fiji if they added "homeopathic" to the label?
Fiji water tastes better than tap water almost always. Yes, I've done a blind taste test in before.
No, it doesn't mean it's worth shipping water from an island across the ocean. In any case, my favorite water of all time is "El dorado springs", which happens to be sourced very close to me here in boulder, co.
Fiji imports more goods than it exports. As such, ships that bring goods to the islands come in full but leave without a full load. Carrying water, while it seems silly, is a use of that empty capacity.
The ship has to return, empty or not. If the shipping company can recoup some of those costs (labor, fuel, insurance, etc.) by selling the otherwise empty space to someone who sells bottled island water, it's a net gain for both the shipping company and the Fijian economy.
