Packaging & Cold Storage

Karsten Fruit Packers specialises in fruit packing and cold storage and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Karsten Group. It is located at Gouda in the Western Cape and ideally positioned to serve fruit growers across the Cape region.

The modern packing and cold storage facility maintains the highest standards in fruit packing and cooling, and has acquired GFSI recognised certifications. It handles around 35 000 bulk bins of fruit every year.

Approximately 60% of the fruit handled by Karsten Fruit Packers originates from farms owned or managed by The Karsten Group. This includes two of the best known fruit producers in the Western Cape, namely Hoogland at Ceres and Lourensford near Somerset West. Karsten Fruit Packers also facilitates contract packing for independent producers throughout the Western Cape.

There are 14 CA rooms with a total capacity of 780 bins per store, as well as 8 RA rooms of which 6 are used for pallet storage with capacity up to 2112 pallets.  There is also one RA store for apple bins (1250 bins in total) and one RA room serves as a pre-cooler for table grapes. 11 Rooms, with a capacity of 456 pallets are equipped for forced air cooling.

Karsten Fruit Packers packs pears, apples, and grapes from January to September. This optimizes packing capacity and provides longer job opportunities for the community.

The company is led by an experienced team with many years of experience in fruit production, fruit packing and cold storage. With the table grape expansions in the Western cape the premises became the Group's main base for grape packing in the Western Cape.  The packhouse also deliver services for table grape cooling for 3rd parties to optimize the infrastructure. Product ranges from apples, pears, plums, table grapes and citrus fruit.

Karsten Fruit Packers prides itself on delivering quality services at market related prices.

Staff in the receiving areas, cold rooms and the pack house is dedicated to maintaining fruit quality and delivering only the best products in the carton. Once packed, palletised and cooled, the fruit is loaded into the container loading bays before being dispatched to the port.

Karsten Fruit Packers offers customers a comprehensive service with key staff being located on the premises at all times to ensure that cooling regimes are maintained at all times.

The Karsten Group is well-known for its dedication to its staff. Training and development is a key aspect of the Karsten Fruit Packers philosophy and staff members are given every chance to advance their skills and their position in the company.