A station by station walk through an Egyptian citrus line, from tipping and drenching to degreening, waxing, sizing and palletising, and the four points where most transit damage is actually created.
Our week of 3 September from the Egyptian packing line: Wonderful pomegranate now at working volume with the size curve settling, the mango season closed, citrus lines commissioned ahead of the first Navel pick, and autumn freight positions firming.
What a bolt seal proves, where the seal number has to appear, and the loading photo and document record an importer should receive before an Egyptian container sails.
Which Egyptian citrus varieties can share a reefer with pomegranate in the October overlap, which cannot, and how to set temperature, ventilation and stow order.
The citrus defects that are not decay and not chilling injury. What causes creasing, granulation, puffiness, oleocellosis and stem-end rind breakdown, where each one is created, and which of them a packhouse can grade out.
Week 36 from the Egyptian packhouse floor. The Keitt mango tail is effectively finished, pomegranate volume is building through Wonderful, guava holds its window, and packhouses are turning over to citrus ahead of the October opening.
What happens to Egyptian oranges, mandarins and lemons between the tree and the reefer door, hour by hour, and which of those steps decides how the fruit arrives.
How a Wonderful pomegranate reefer is actually loaded out of Egypt: carton formats, pallet patterns, the 5 to 7 C set point, fresh air exchange and the loading faults that show up at destination.
Pomegranate husk scald, chilling pitting and aril browning are transit defects, not field defects. What causes each one, when it appears, and the carriage settings that prevent it.
Week of 30 August 2026: the first Wonderful pomegranate is cut, Keitt volumes fall to a trickle, citrus packhouses commission their lines and October reefer allocation starts to tighten.