Citrus exporters shift to breakbulk

The adaptability of SA citrus exporters to shift from containerised to breakbulk shipping has ensured largely uninterrupted shipping to the key markets of Japan, Russia, the US and most of Europe, the Citrus Growers’ Association told FTW. “Citrus to these markets is currently being shipped out in specialised reefer ships where there is little or no effect from the strike as fruit terminals continue operations unabated. The shipping lines are chartering specialised reefer ships to handle breakbulk because growers can’t get their reefers out,” Mitchell Brooke, logistics co-ordinator for CGA, told FTW. Brooke said that citrus exiting all four SA ports has been shifting from containers to breakbulk as additional reefer vessels are being put into service for the biggest market, the EU. “It is quite a relief to the industry that breakbulk can respond to demand at such short notice,” Brooke said. A CGA survey found that there was still spare storage capacity for citrus products at all of the major ports’ cold stores. This has meant that citrus packing has not been disrupted. “Western Cape cold stores can be used should fruit need to be diverted if cold store capacity in Maputo, Durban and Eastern Cape suddenly runs short,” Brooke said. However shipments to the Middle East and Far East are still a challenge. “We have learned that some reefer ships to bring citrus in breakbulk to the Middle East have been put into service. But for the Far East there appears no shortterm solution,” Brooke said. As a result, shippers to the Far East are keeping their fruit on the trees, and pickers have been temporarily withdrawn from the groves. “Citrus is the hardiest of fruit. They can stay on the trees or even in cold storage for long periods and their integrity won't be compromised,” said Brooke, who noted that keeping oranges, lemons and grapefruit on trees was preferable to paying cold storage fees. Such fees are also avoided by shippers who packed Middle East-bound reefer containers last week, and whose boxes languished portside this week, their contents safe for now. Unknown is when these boxes will make their way to their destinations. Brooke said interruption in deliveries and potential loss of markets might be the Transnet strike’s legacy that most worries SA citrus shippers.