The Italian port of Livorno, a major destination for fruit imported into the country, has made two key appointments expected to bolster its position in the global fresh produce trade.
The group has named Gerardo Larotonda, the former boss of Turin logistics centre Interporto di Torino, as its new managing director, while Antonio Rognoni – known to many in the international fruit business for his work at several companies including Dole, Reefer Terminal (part of GF Group) and Med Reefer, the logistics and shipping agency established by Genoa-based Clerici – has joined as commercial director.
In May 2011, Rognoni was appointed as logistics director at Battaglio Gestioni, the holding company of Turin-based fresh produce importer Battaglio, which recently opened a new ripening centre for bananas at Livorno's intermodal centre Interporto di Guasticce.
Italian news agency Ansa reported that the two new directors had been given responsibility for increasing the volume of imported fruit shipped via the port.
Towards the end of last year, a major new refrigerated handling centre was inaugurated in Livorno, a €25m facility built to cope with throughput of as much as 400,000 tonnes of fruit each year.
The Livorno Reefer Terminal had been expected to act as an entry point for US giant Dole's Latin American exports to Italy, only for the company subquently to transfer its banana shipments to containers and send them via the nearby east-coast ports of Civitavecchia and Genoa.
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