The South African Table Grape Industry (SATI) and its partner, Transnova Africa, have been jointly honoured with the prestigious Platinum Award at the 2025 GIBS Logistics Achiever Awards. This recognition underscores a landmark achievement in supply chain innovation, highlighting a pioneering logistics model that has successfully transformed one of South Africa’s most challenging export environments into a globally competitive, resilient operation. The Platinum Award, the programme’s highest distinction, celebrates not merely a logistics improvement, but a fundamental reshaping of how the nation’s fresh produce moves from farm to international market.
The Challenge: From Crisis to Innovation
The collaboration between SATI and Transnova Africa was a direct, proactive response to severe and damaging logistics problems, particularly at the Cape Town Container Terminal. These challenges had previously resulted in significantly extended transit times for table grape exports, threatening the industry’s reputation as a reliable global supplier. Recognizing the need for a strategic, future-proof solution, SATI commissioned the development of the Prescriptive Logistics Model in April 2024. This initiative turned a critical vulnerability into an opportunity for world-class innovation.
The Prescriptive Logistics Model: A Digital Twin for Exports
The core of the award-winning solution is the Prescriptive Logistics Model, the first of its kind in South Africa’s agri-export sector. Powered by sophisticated digital twin technology, the model creates a virtual replica of the country’s entire export network. This digital environment allows stakeholders to simulate real-world scenarios, optimize the allocation of containers, and precisely identify the most efficient routes to market before a single grape is shipped.
The model’s rollout was executed in two phases. Phase 1 used the digital twin to provide deep, data-driven insights into the constraints of the prior 2023/24 export season, enabling the industry to pinpoint and mitigate systemic challenges. Phase 2 saw the model transition into a dynamic tactical planning tool for the 2024/25 season, delivering fortnightly recommendations and risk scenarios. This shift empowered growers and exporters to make informed, data-driven decisions, delivering actionable strategies that enhanced the industry’s global competitiveness by aligning route-to-market plans with market shifts and mitigating emerging risks.
Reaffirming Global Reliability
SATI CEO Mecia Petersen emphasized that the Platinum Award is a crucial milestone aligned with the industry’s mission to maintain and promote South Africa’s reputation for reliable supply and consistent quality. By combining SATI’s deep industry knowledge with Transnova Africa’s advanced supply chain expertise, the partnership created a model that not only mitigates logistical risk but significantly enhances global competitiveness and builds trust among international buyers. As Carsten Schubert, Chief Revenue Officer of Transnova Africa, noted, the model represents a new paradigm in supply chain management, transforming processes from reactive to predictive and making the agricultural sector more resilient and sustainable.
A Blueprint for the Future of Agri-Exports
The significance of the award extends far beyond the table grape industry. Building on the success of the model, SATI and Transnova Africa are actively working to expand its application to other key fruit commodities, including citrus and stone fruit. Furthermore, the collaboration is reaching government level, with efforts under way with Transnet and the Western Cape Government to institutionalise real-time data sharing and logistics coordination across the entire perishable export network. This scalable innovation positions the Prescriptive Logistics Model as a blueprint for the future of South Africa’s agricultural exports, fulfilling the promise of ensuring that produce reaches the world—fresh, on time, every time.