The Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) has proposed a five-point logistics plan to cope with the massive volume growth projected for the northern region of the country in the years ahead.
”If anything else, the 2018 season has shown that a massive rethink is required to manage the growth in export volumes logistically from the northern regions,” said CGA CEO, Justin Chadwick. “The growth in production from 2015 to 2018 has been so major that logistics and infrastructure have been tested beyond the limit.”
The plan calls for the development and expansion of cold storage infrastructure, increased use of Maputo as an export port, greater focus on rail transport, an increase in conventional breakbulk shipments, and changes to Durban port operations and infrastructure. CGA logistics development manager Mitchell Brooke told FTW that expansion of cold storage infrastructure was already under way.
“There are 13 cold storage facilities in Durban and two are currently undergoing expansion work to increase capacity by at least 20%,” he said. “Additionally, a new facility is currently being constructed in Hammarsdale with a capacity of 10 000 pallets, while another is in the pipeline to come into operation by 2020.”
He believes that this will cater for expected growth over the next five years. In terms of port realignment, Brooke is upbeat about the prospect of growing volumes out of Maputo. “Various container lines have shown a strong interest in introducing a service aligned to citrus exports destined for Middle East and Far East markets at the port,” he told FTW. But possibly one of the biggest challenges lies in the rail element. Unless there’s a serious switch from road to rail, the expected volume growth will see around 400 additional trucks per week, and 8 000 trucks per year, on our roads.
“We’ve been working with TFR for over ten years now to increase rail usage, but traction has been going backwards instead of forwards," said Brooke. “We have given them data, analyses and strategic plans which show that we could easily move around 10 000 containers a year successfully from the northern regions, but we are still waiting for TFR to seize this opportunity. “For this year alone, we have only gained around 1 or 2 000 containers on rail, well below our estimates and what we need.” According to data from the CGA, in Durban around 42 000 containers are likely to be shipped this year, up from the average 35 000, and with 49 000 forecast for the future. Nationally a further 30 000 containers will be required to match export growth.
“Simply put, the CGA strongly encourages the use of conventional breakbulk to ship citrus to Europe, Russia and the UK in order to offset this demand,” said Chadwick. “If a full vessel can be loaded from Durban to Europe, UK and Russia each week, this could potentially offset 250 containers.”
“2018 has already seen massive congestion at the Port of Durban, with long queues of trucks blocking the roads and constraining movement,” said Chadwick. “Cold storage demand in Durban way outstripped capacity with much fruit having to be channelled via ambient storage facilities just so that trucks could be offloaded.”
The CGA will be holding a strategic session with Transnet Port Terminals on September 28 to discuss this logistics plan and any other interventions that could reduce congestion at the DCT and address plug point capacity at the port.
The CGA strongly encourages the use of conventional breakbulk to ship citrus to Europe, Russia and the UK. – Justin Chadwick
