South Africa is now officially the world's largest citrus exporter, and it's companies like the FPT Group, operator of private port terminals at Durban, Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), and Cape Town, that make the last leg happen. Recent floods have caused major disruptions in the Eastern and Western regions, which might affect the export volumes out of those areas. "We're still waiting for producers to tell us what the impact will be on the forecast of fruit. It's a difficult one," remarks Paulo Franco, managing director of the FPT Group. © FPT Group FPT terminal, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal The FPT Group has just had its lease renewed by TNPA - Transnet National Ports Authority to continue operating the Durban terminal, prolonging its lease to 2047. All of South Africa's conventional shipping (reefer vessels) is loaded at FPT terminals. "Our Durban facility is now over 30 years old, and we need more efficiency. We need better cooling, faster cooling, and improved processing of the fruit so that we can improve on all deficiencies cost-wise. New cooling technologies are a lot more efficient and quicker, which is better for the product," he explains, adding that they are introducing a high degree of automation into the process. Starting towards the end of the current citrus season, every single office and building at Durban FPT is due to be rebuilt, Franco says. "We're going to do a full refurbishment of the facility, with modern equipment, all new cold rooms, all new cooling facilities. Everything that you see inside the building will disappear, and modern state-of-the-art equipment will be installed." Franco continues: "We're also putting a lot of investment in AI for our own warehouse management system. It's a long conversation as far as AI is concerned," he observes, "but we're putting quite some money behind that