IT Orsero Fruttital GF Group bananas forklift

Fresh produce importer Fruttital, part of Italy's GF Group, has transferred its entire logistics and distribution operation to a location just outside Verona, the company has confirmed.

While administrative and sales offices will remain in Albenga, near Genoa on the coast of Liguria, the company's distribution hub for north and central Italy will be in Strada dell'Alpo, where it already has a packhouse facility close to major road links.

'Starting on Monday 20 January, all produce will leave from Verona,' Fruttital's managing director Paolo Mauti told Italiafruit News.

Talk of a departure from Albenga has been in the air for some time, but the company's decision to move away from Liguria has come as a surprise to many in the trade.

'The decentralisation became necessary in light of new aims and dynamics when it came to logistics,' Mauti explained. 'The Verona site is a historic home that offers a packhouse with big capacity located in a strategic area not only for the north-east but also for reaching central Italy. We will strengthen it.'

Mauti also underlined the importance of 'reorganising Fruttital with a view to making it even more efficient, reducing costs and optimising service levels' during what has been a challenging period for the trade and the group.

Fruttital has been working on a major restructuring of its operations following a downturn in the volume of fruit handled in the wake of its high-profile split from Fresh Del Monte.

Reports in the Italian press last September, which suggested GF Group's finances were under greater pressure than previously thought, might go some way to explaining Fruttital's apparent sense of urgency in streamlining its distribution network.